The Tribunal recorded evidence from 6
witnesses and collected 10 written statements from Banaskantha. Violence
in this district broke out on March 1, 2002 and engulfed Dhanera, Pantwada,
Palanpur, Vadga, Sihori and Gazipur.
Muslims living in Gazipur started
receiving threatening calls from 9.30 a.m. on that day. One of those who
testified, Memon Janmohammed Ibrahimbhai (53) is a local trader who had
been living in Gazipur for the past 15 years. He is a trader dealing in
grains, cloth and provisions. From 9.30 a.m. on March 1, the witness
started receiving telephone calls repeatedly advising him to leave
immediately because the mob was approaching Gazipur. Brahmin Thakar,
Rajendra Prasad and Vasudev were with the mob. The person who called to
tell him this, is a big trader (name withheld) from whom the witness
bought goods. The people in the village told him to leave, as he was a
threat to all of them. The witness said that since this was the opinion of
the whole village, he took his joint family of 22 members and went to the
hilly forest area nearby. He left his house with nothing and fled. His
children did not have water or food and his family faced a lot of hardship
that night. They spent the whole night in the jungle. The next morning,
they started walking towards the next village, Kasampura. On the way, a
mob approached and surrounded them. The mob was set on robbing them but
since they had nothing valuable with them, they were let off. However, due
to this encounter, they decided not to go on to Kasampura and spent the
next night in the jungle as well, without food and water. Then, some
Adivasis gave them fresh clothes to wear and they managed to reach Daroi,
from where they called the witness’ brother-in-law. PSI Bharwad then came
and took them to another village. The witness and his family reached the
camp at Idar on the third day after fleeing Gazipur. When he went back on
March 4, to check on their house, not a thing was found in it. The witness
was chased away by the police when he went to file a complaint. He had
received no compensation. The witness also said that people had been
trying to chase him out of the village for the past 2 years.