Mapping The Violence

Sixteen of Gujarat’s 24 districts were engulfed in the most organised armed mob attacks on Muslimsbetween February 28 and March 2, 2002, when most of the attacks were concentrated. Rampaging mobs were at ituntil mid-March. In some parts of Ahmedabad and Mehsana they are still on the loose. (Another three districtshad sporadic bouts of organised violence.) Nowhere were the mobs less that 2-3,000, most often they were morethan 5-10,000 strong. This and the fact that they were armed with swords, trishuls and agriculturalinstruments that could kill; the fact that the manner of arson, hacking and killing was chillingly similar;all suggest a carefully laid out plan behind the attacks. It is only trained cadres who can spill out in suchan organised fashion, in thousands across the state of Gujarat, within the ‘72 hours’ it took ChiefMinister Modi to ‘bring things to normal.’

February 27, 2002 

• Godhra: 58 persons torched alive in bogie of Sabarmati express.

(Stray stabbings at Ahmedabad and Anand).
Stabbing at Varodara of a Muslim vendor as Kar sevaks returned
Rajpardi village, Bharuch
65 persons travelling in a tempo from Kidiad to Modasa in Sabarkantha burnt alive atBabaliya, Khanpur chowki Panchmahal.

February 28, 2002 

• Ahmedabad: Civil Hospital, Sola. Bodies are brought, angry slogans raised
  
  
• Gulberg Society, Chamanpura: Armed mob of 20-22,000 holds the whole of Gulberg society to ransom for over seven hours. Seventy personshacked and burnt alive. (10-12 women and girls were raped). Commissioner Pandey failed to save the victims.
  
  
• Naroda Gaon-Naroda Patiya: Armed mobs of 15,000 attack and kill women, children and men – over 200 lives lost; Ample evidence ofprivate firing with rifles by the mobs alsoarmed with trishuls, dharias, spears and other weapons. (Police watched).
  
  
• Naroda Fruit Market: Armed mobs of 10,000 attack Muslim wholesalers selectively.
  
  
• Odhav, Gomtipur and Amraiwadi. Mobs attack.
  
  
• Paldi: attacked by huge mob. Judges/Police Quarters attacked
  
  
• Kabadi Market: attacked by mob of 7-10,000; destruction carries on for four days.
  
  
• Vatwa: attacked by mob of 10-20,000. Restaurants and housing societies within minority areas are selectivelytargeted.

1,100 hotels in Ahmedabad, Baroda and on the Highways torched with special chemical between February 28 andMarch 1.A mob first ransacked a Honda City car showroom on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway

• Vadodara: At least 7 persons killed and 30 injured in mob attacks on the localities ofFatehpura, Chhipwad and Makarpura.
  
  
• Vadodara Rural: Savli, Chhotaudaipur, Desar, Sokhda, Laxmipura , Padra, Vadu, Karjan,Vaghodiya, Udalpur, Tarsali. Kisanwadi, Sama Society, Madhavnagar, Ashabi Chawl were at-tacked. In rural parts, Sokhada and Chappad were targeted.
  
  
• Gandhinagar: A mob enters the Old Secretariat building in the high-security zone andburns down the offices of the Wakf Board and the state Minority Finance Corporation.
  
  
• Sabarkantha:
  
  
• Near Prantij: Three British Nationals travelling in a local taxi are attacked; one survives;the driver is killed, two are still missing.
  
  Villages/towns across this district are brutally targeted for four-five days: Meghraj, Bayad,Dhansura, Vadali, Prantij, Vijaynagar, Dolapur, Fazalpur, Madhavkampa, Talod, Modasa,Malpur, Sardoi, Himmatnagar, Idar, Khhedbrahma, Bhiloda, Tintoi, Gajra, Jadar, Zaledar,Faredi, Pandharwada, Kavath, Unjha, Dailol, Meghdharol, Sathamba, Shamlaji, Demai,Limkheda, Halol. The Highway through Sabarkantha was targeted by rampaging mobs.Mobs in the above-mentioned areas led by local leaders of the VHP and BD encircled andcordoned of the roads and stopped all vehicles carrying milk, vegetables and other basic food items.
  
  
• Himmatnagar: One young Muslim boy was allegedly shot to death at point blank rangeby the Superintendent of Police in Himmatnagar.
  
  
• Ahmedabad Rural: Dholka, Jetalpur, Ramol, Mandal targeted by mobs of not less that3,000, armed with trishuls, swords and agricultural implements.
  
  
• Bharuch city
• Ankleshwar GIDC area

March 1, 2002

• Panchmahal:*Pandharwada: 70 people burnt alive Pandharwada village in Khanpur taluka of Panchmahal.Six persons burnt alive by large mobs near Dailol railway station located between Kalol andHalol, about 50 km from Godhra; The victims were walking on the Highway when a mob ofmore than 200 people caught up with them, doused them in kerosene and burnt them alive.
  Of the victims, four were women.
  Other towns and villages brutally attacked:Godhra, Kadadara, Anjanva, Santrampur, af-fected: Limkheda, Dailol, Mora.
  
  
• Mehsana: Sardarpura village:8 farm labourers belonging to the minority community burnt alive.Other towns and villages brutally attacked: Pansar, Visnagar, Unjha, Umta, Becharaji.
  
  
• Kheda: Villages/towns badly affected: Mehmdavad, Jinger, Ghodasar, Kheda, Nadiad,Rural: Ode, Vasad, Petlad, Khambhat, Sojitra, Dharmaj, Borsad, Mehmdavad, Kathlal, Virsad, Balasinor, Pij,Sarsa, Chikhodara, Dakor, Nilampura, Pahad, Thasara, Sevaliya, Ratanpur, Haldasvar, Timba, Khalsar, Chaklasi,Peej, Piplak, Dumral.
  
  
• Ahmedabad: Gomtipur, Vatwa: large bastis gutted and property looted
  
  
• Gandhinagar: Curfew in Gandhinagar for the first time in 30 yrs on March 1. Mobs movedfreely in the capital targeting specific residences and establishments belonging to Muslims. Superintendent ofpolice E Radhakrishna said that the curfew had been imposed as a precautionarymeasure. The incidents took place in Sector 21, Gha-2 , Gha-6, Sector 25, Sector 26 and Sector27. Houses were set on fire in Sector 27 while commercial establishments were vandalised in theother areas. Residents of Sector 29, which has a sizeable number of minority members, includingbusinessmen and government servants, said that the violence was unthinkable and they wereafraid for the first time.
  
  
• Junagadh: This haven of communal harmony saw some tension errupt with a stabbingon March 1 but matters were handled swiftly by the local police.
  
  
• Banaskantha: Mankdi, Thalwad, Jitpur in Danta taluka:entire villages have been burnt.(FourBohra Muslims burnt alive).Villages badly affected: Deesa, Sesanava, Danta, Dhanera, Thara, Tharad, Bhildi,Sihori, Bhabhar, Hadad, Mankdi, Panthawada, Malotra, Palanpur, Vijaynagar, Vadgam, Lakhani.
  
  
• Patan: Violence in Chanasma.In Radhanpur village three persons travelling in a jeep attacked, two killed; one survives.
  
  
• Varodara-BEST Bakery, Hanuman Tekri, Vadi Panigate, Raghovpura, Machchipith
  
  
• Varodara Rural-Rahovpura, Tulsiwadi, Bhayli. Laxmipura, Bajwa, Maretha, Tejgadh andKanwat in tribal parts of rural Varodara are targeted
  
  
• Anand: Villages badly targeted: Mogar, Sarsa, Chikodra, Bedwa, Samarkha and Odh, Vasad.
• Bharuch: Rajpardi, Rajpipla, Devaliya.

March 2, 2002 

• Bharuch: Bharuch city, AnkleshwarRural: Bhimpura, Amod, Valiya, Netrang, Jambusar, Nandod, Jhagadiya, Andada, Diva.
  
  
• Halol: Factories, trucks set on fire ; 5 units in Halol Industrial Belt set on fire; 9 truckscarrying 63 Opel astras from the General Motors factory in Halol are burnt. Lucky Studio,owned by film producer Sajid Nadiadwala, was also gutted.The 5 units that were set on fire included four plastic factories and one engineeringunit. The industrial town of Halol remained tense as only 17 policemen were on duty inthe town limits and they are unable to stop the rampaging the mobs from targeting thefactories.
  
  
• Rajkot: Rajkot (never experienced communal violence before this) saw violence spreadin the industrial areas of Ajit, Shapar-Veraval and GIDC estate. 25 small and medium indus-trial units were set ablaze in the Ajit industrial area alone. In the Shapar-Veraval area, unitslike Suraj Industrial, Nazeen Industries, Polymer Packaging and Antech Television were damaged by the mobs. Rajkot city, and village Gondal. Are targeted
  
  
• Latipot: About 15 units with stocks of wooden logs, were set on fire, causing aloss of about Rs. 5 crore. In the Kevdawadi and Gundawadi areas, units like BazukiIndustries and Kirti packaging which had large stocks of packaging material and card-board , were torched. Eyewitnesses say that the police deployment was inadequate inthese areas.

Violence erupts in Mehsana, Godhra, Surat, Vadodara and Anand. Even as chief ministerModi boasted about how “peace had returned” and made tall claims of “90 per cent violenceebbing down,” as many as 29 Muslims were torched to death at Sardarpara village in Mehsanaand over 39 people were killed in separate incidents in Surat, Bhavnagar, Sabarkantha andVadodara.

March 2, 2002 

Families from far-flung areas in districts of of Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Banaskantha,Panchmahal, Ahmedabad, Kheda, Baroda, Broach, Surat and Bhavnagar fled to safer places astheir houses and business centres had been destroyed in violence by unruly mobs since Febru-ary 28.The worst hit districts were Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Sabarkantha and Panchmahal wherea large number of houses and shops belonging to minority community were set afire afterransacking and looting of houses and shops, and family members being killed during the orgyof violence in the past five days.

March 3, 2002 

• Gandhinagar: A large number of shops, showrooms, larri-gallas and even houses belongingto Muslims were set on fire in all parts of the city on Feb 28, March 1 and 2.March 4, 2002
  
  
• Surat, Bhavnagar, Ahmedabad, Morbi in Rajkot district. Violence spreads to the streets inseveral areas, including Surat, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad on March 3. Police opened fire onmobs setting fire to property and looting goods in Bhavnagar and Surat. Morbi in Rajkotdistrict is also engulfed in violence.

March 4, 2002 

Police firing on rioting mobs claimed 2 lives in Sabarkantha and one in Kheda, while 6 peoplewere killed in other incidents of violence in Vadodara, Mehsana and Dahod.

• Vadodara Rural: Savli, Chhotaudaipur, Desar, Sokhda (Vadodara), Laxmipura village, Padra,Vadu, Karjan, Vaghodiya, Udalpur; (Violence in Chotaudaipur continued until March 12).

March 6, 2002 

Mass burials sans relatives for Naroda, Gulberg victims.

As many as 96 bodies of victims of the post-Godhra carnage were buried in a mass grave inthe Dudheshwar graveyard this evening; another mass grave for about 200 victims was beingreadied in Sarkhej, on the outskirts of the city, for a burial tomorrow.

A big grave was dug and the bodies, brought from the Civil Hospital morgue, lowered into itone by one. They were victims of the Naroda Patiya and the Gulberg Society carnages. Amongthem were 5 children, including a 6-month-old baby; 46 women, including one who was preg-nant, and a handicapped man whose crutches lay by the side. 500 persons silently watched andprayed. CM Narendra Modi, driving less than a kilometre away, did not visit the graveyard.