HC on Gujarat government

The Narendra Modi government came in for some harsh words from the Gujarat high court on Wednesday for its handling of the 2002 riots. Inadequacy, inaction and negligence of the government to prevent the riots resulted in largescale destruction of religious structures across the state, the court observed. Not only did the court ask the government to compensate the trusts managing the nearly 600 damaged mosques, temples and shrines, it also said the money should be realized from those who were responsible for the destruction. Hearing a public interest litigation filed by Islamic Relief Committee, Gujarat (IRCG) in 2003, the division bench of acting chief justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and justice J B Pardiwala observed that the state had failed to discharge its constitutional duty to protect a citizen’s right to meaningful life and religion. The government said it could not help religious trusts repair places of worship because of policy decisions, but the judges said the state could not ignore fundamental rights of citizens. Compensate the trusts just as those who had lost their houses and shops were compensated, the court said. The bench directed that principal judges in all 26 districts should receive applications for compensation from the trusts and decide on heir veracity and compensation amount. They have been given six months to get back to the high court. The state government also got the rap for not tabling the final National Human Rights Commission report on the 2002 riots in the state assembly for all these years. In its affidavit last year, the government had promised to table it in the budget session later this month.