Editorial
Will you stand up to justice, Mr. Modi?
The day the results of the General Elections 2014 were announced and Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi won the elections with thumping majority, the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, acquitted six convicts in the 2002 Akshardham terror attack case of Gujarat and slammed the state police for implicating the innocents. Ten days after Modi took oath as Prime Minister of India, a special court of Prevention of Terrorism Activities Act (POTA) in Ahmedabad acquitted the remaining two accused in the case.
Since becoming the chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001 till his last day in office on 22 May 2014, Modi held the portfolio of state home department with him. Before the SC verdict in the Akshardham case, several ‘terror encounters’ of Gujarat including that of Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin were found fake in judicial probes. Those encounters had also taken place with Modi in the chair of chief minister and head of the state home department.
As the police and other state security agencies work under the home ministry, therefore, he should also share responsibility of the failed police probe.
The eight people of Akshardham case spent more than 10 precious years of their lives behind bars for sins they had not committed. Not only did their career and livelihood collapse, members of their family who were dependent on them also lived a traumatic life.
After the acquittal, the victims held a press conference in Mumbai on 26 May – the day Modi was sworn in as PM – and demanded justice. They demanded compensation and rehabilitation. They also demanded punishment to the officials who falsely implicated them in the case.
Now that Modi has become the Prime Minister of the country, statesmanship requires him to come out of the narrow vision of state politics and admit his mistakes. He can start with the Akshardham case. Will he stand up for justice to the victims?
