Muhammad Mujahid Syed
LUCKNOW — Taking strong exception to the recent verdict of a special court in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, Zafaryab Jilani, additional advocate general of Uttar Pradesh (UP), called the judgment “weak” and “not exemplary” in an exclusive interview to the Saudi Gazette here earlier this month. The Gulbarg Society case is one of the nine cases of the 2002 Gujarat riots probed by India’s apex court appointed special tribunals.
Jilani, who is also a member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), expressed his strong disappointment over the quantum of punishment meted out to the accused in the massacre. According to him, the court should have set an example by handing down the severest punishment to the convicts given the gravity of their crime
The court sentenced 11 convicts to life imprisonment, 12 others to seven years and one more to ten years in jail in the riots, in which 69 were burned to death. While the judge, when pronouncing the sentence, called the day of the massacre the “darkest day in the history of civilization,” he let off the accused with very mild punishment, alleged Jilani.
Unleashing a blistering broadside against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — India’s ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — Jilani accused it of creating communal tension in UP in order to reap rich electoral dividends in the forthcoming elections in the state.
Reacting to the BJP’s claim of an exodus of Hindus from Kairana, a village in Shamli district of UP, threatened by Muslims who are in a majority, Jilani called it baseless and unfounded. He also refuted the claim of UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya that there are many other Kairanas in which Hindus are persecuted and are forced to leave their homes.
“The religious people from both Hindu and Muslim communities have been given the task by the state government to ascertain the ground realities in Kairana and prepare a report. Their independent findings will instill more confidence among members of the Hindu community,” he said.
Responding to the statement of Rajnath Singh, the federal home minister, that before issuing any statement about the matters like Kairana, one should be more cautious, Jilani opined, “It is all part of the BJP and RSS’ strategy to goad local leaders into making provocative claims and thus providing the federal government an opportunity to seek a report from the state government in order to be seen as proactive toward the so-called Hindu cause.
When asked about the prospects of the the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the forthcoming Assembly elections and its appeal among the Muslims particularly in the light of the prevailing communal tension, Jilani heaped lavish praise on the party saying, ” It is the only party that still has the maximum confidence of most of the Muslims in the state.
He congratulated the state government on preventing Sangeet Som, a BJP state legislator, from holding a rally in Kairana in order to fan communal tension.
“The police were comparatively more alert this time and it succeeded in stopping the rally of communal elements which it was not able to do in Muzaffarnagar district in 2003, leading to widespread riots.
Regarding the latest development in the Babri Masjid demolition case, he said that all records pertaining to the issue have been submitted in the digitized manner to the Supreme Court. The apex court, in turn, has already passed the direction to the registrar to issue a copy of the CD to counsels of the parties on payment of the usual charges. After the reopening of the Supreme Court, a date will be fixed by the registrar for the discussion with the party counsels about the manner in which records have to be translated. After the deliberation of this meeting it will be clear that how much time will likely be taken for the translation of the documents which are in many languages, like Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi etc.”
