‘Insaniyat’ meeting on the
Best Bakery judgement
Insaaniyat’s meeting on 24 April, 2004,
in Mumbai to express support for the Supreme Court judgement in the
Best Bakery case (transferring the case out of Gujarat) was a
striking demonstration of the considerable public support for
justice for the victims of communal violence. The audience of 175,
which included many prominent citizens from the arts, corporate
world, academia, the media, trade unions, women’s organizations and
citizen’s groups, were part of an even larger group of individuals
who endorsed the statement prepared for this occasion.
What is even more heartening is the
continued outpouring of support for this statement. We are adding
names as they keep coming in. So if you haven’t signed in yet, it’s
still not too late – just email a response ([email protected])
and your name will be added on. If you know of others who would like
to register their support, please let them know.
Just as every drop of water makes a
mighty ocean, every gesture, however small, adds up to the
groundswell of support we are already seeing for justice for victims
of the hideous violence in Gujarat. In the days and months to come,
we along with other groups and individuals plan to launch a campaign
to create a support network for witnesses. We need ideas, inputs,
volunteers and financial support to reach out to wider sections of
society.
At the meeting on Saturday, human rights
lawyer Mihir Desai, who is representing Zahira Sheikh, spoke of the
manner in which the processes of justice were being systematically
undermined in Gujarat. The Supreme Court judgement was unprecedented
in more ways than one, he said, adding that it was indeed extremely
rare for such a combination of four important aspects of the
judgement: that the court ordered a re-trial; a re-investigation;
that the case be moved to the Bombay High Court; and that the
victims are given the chance to choose a public prosecutor to
represent their case.
Teesta Setalvad, who has been
spearheading the work of Citizens for Justice and Peace, spoke of
the vitiated atmosphere in which victims are seeking justice in
Gujarat. CJP pleas to transfer several other cases are pending
before the Supreme Court, including the Godhra, Sardarpura, Gulbarg
Society and Naroda Patiya cases. She spoke of the immense courage
and tenacity of women like Zahira and Bilkis Bano in their search
for justice.
Actor Rahul Bose spoke of the prevailing
fear psychosis in society and said that it was important to rise
above oneself to combat the environment of mistrust and intolerance.
He later pledged his unequivocal support for a campaign on the
issue.
Here’s the statement of support for the
Best Bakery judgement; listed below that are the names of all those
who have endorsed it:
We,
the undersigned, welcome the Supreme Court judgement of 12 April
2004 delivered by Justices Raju and Pasayat in the Best Bakery
case as an example of all that is finest in our society and our
judicial system. The Judgement states, among other things: ‘When
large numbers of people including innocent and helpless children
and women are killed in a diabolic manner it brings disgrace to
the entire society. Criminals have no religion. No religion
teaches violence and cruelty-based religion is no religion at
all, but a mere cloak to usurp power by fanning ill feeling and
playing on feelings aroused thereby… The fanatics who spread
violence in the name of religion are worse than terrorists and
more dangerous than an alien enemy.’
The judgement
alerts us to the dire danger facing our democracy when ‘fanatics
who..are worse than terrorists’ are repeatedly excused not only
by the police, judiciary and State Government of Gujarat but
also by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India.
Justice is a central pillar of democracy; when the former is
destroyed, the latter collapses. We value the Supreme Court’s
determination to restore the credibility of our judicial system
in the eyes of the world and safeguard our democracy. We pledge
our full support when the retrial takes place in Bombay. We also
note that other survivors of the Gujarat carnage, including
relatives of the Godhra victims, have requested that their cases
be transferred out of Gujarat, and pledge our support to them
too.
Names of
those who have endorsed/signed the above statement
Anu Aga
Arti Kirloskar
Aimee Wadia
Khorshed K Gandhy
Rahul Bose
Farouque Sheikh
Sayeed Mirza
Aamir
Khan
Om
Puri
Nandita Puri
Govind
Nihalani
F T Khorakiwala
Nandan Maluste
Vinay Shukla
Rajni Bakshi
John D’Souza
Kekoo Gandhy
Shailesh Gandhi
Vahida Nainar
Neera Desai
Meena Gopal
Apoorva Kalwar
Shalini Mahajan
Sanjay Upadhyay
Ranjendra Kanvinde
Manjula Swami
Chayanika Shah
Adv Prashant P
Ramarao M G
Anjum Rajabali
Gita
Chadha
K.Sridhar
Arati
Luthra Pinto
Simantini Dhuru
Riddhi
Shah
Prasoon Pandey
Ram
Madhvani
Ayesha
Sayani
Lalit
Marathe
Sanjay
F.Gupta
Amole
Gupte
Deepa
Bhatia
Tanvi
Azmi
Sameer
Malhotra
Dunu
Roy
Imrana
Qadeer
Sandhya Gokhale
Juzar
Bandukwala
Tanuja
Chandra
Madhushree Datta
Mariam Dossal
Suguna Rao |
Madhu Akotkar
A G Tanjula
Perrin Chandra
Sajid Rashid
Hemant Tiwari
Asif Khan
K M Aarif
Sudhir Paranjpe
Parezade Mama
Arnavaz Mama
Firdausi Jussawalla
Naira Ahmadullah
Sonal Sheth
Smriti Nevatia
Bhushan Oza
Rudi Heredia
Rohit D Mothari
Daniel Mazgaonkar
Zia Hajeebhoy
Mazamil Qamim
Meena Menon
Dara T Gandhy
Sanober Keshwaar
Yogi Aggarwal
Gurpal Singh
K Leena
Deepak Negi
Sandhya Mhale
Shama Dalwai
J B
D’Souza
Neela
D’Souza
Prashant P. Bansode
Dr. Vibha Surana
M.Bajpai
Ritu Dewan
Swati Raju
Nina Ashar
Nitin Nair
S.Sriraman
L.G.Burange
Vibhuti Patel
Aarti Prasad
Surendra Gaikwad
Manisha Karne
R.G.Dangde
Narendra Panjwani
Rajani Iyer
S.M.Michael
Annakutty V.K.
S.K.Bhowmik
Myrtle Barse
B.V.Bhosale |
Aziz Mirza
Pranav Tripathi
Mrs Sudherekha
Amolik
Dr Naina Athalye
Dr Vibhuthi Patel
Ms Sunipa Ghose
Rukmini Datta
Bennet D’Costa
Dr Athar Qureshi
Venita Fernandes
Josephine Williams
Shabana Khan
Desh Deepak
Shweta
Shyam Ranjankar
Salim Saboowala
Preeti Bhat
Ammu Abraham
Bulbul Manlani
Satya Wanuari
Shrikumar Poddar
AH Farooqui
Punam Sawhney
Priyanka Josson
Bandhuraj Lone
Smruti Koppikar
Ambika Gupta
Sagar Pandya
Mahesh Kamble
Supriya Kamble
Deepa Gehlot
Piroj Wadia
Sagar Yadav
S N Hammad
E N Fernandes
Kunal Motishaw
Justice Daud
Asghar
Ali Engineer
Sonia
Gill
Kumar
Ketkar
Dr
Shriram Lagoo
Medha
Patkar
Adm
Ramdas
Lalita
Ramdas
Sharada Sathe
Ayesha
Sayani
Justice Suresh
N
Vasudevan
Nikhil
Wagle
Parvati Vasudevan
Biswamohan
Pradha |
Monish Ved
John Thomas
Satish Sahwney
Tushar Dhara
Swaroop Biswas
Yazad Jal
Vivin Mathew Easo
Atul Tiwari
Shama Zaidi
Sujoy
Satish Sutaria
Irfan Merchant
Yasmeen Lukhmani
Indra Munshi
Margarida Colaco
Nasreen Fazalbhoy
Feroze H Mithiborwala
Hasan Kamaal
Sushant Singh
Sujata Tiwari
Shalini Gogia
M J Pandey
Faiza
Sonal
Rajit Kapur
Nitin Kalra
Amarendra Dhaneshwar
Neela Bhagwat
Uttam Sirur
Vinise Banerjea
Pallavi Acharya
Purnima Kulkarni
Pradnya Bothare
T J Ravishankar
K K Raina
Asad Bin Saif
Sahil Sheth
Subhash Mehta
Dolphy D’Souza
Sukla Sen
Ankur Datta
Suma Josson
Deepika D’Souza
Raajen Singh
Shakil Ahmed
Smita Vijay Crishna
Vinod Shetty
Baba Azmi
Jairus Banaji
Geeta Seshu
Rohini Hensman
Ranush Kamble |
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