GODHRA PROBE | Key witness alleges that minority community residents attacked Hindu houses regularly
For the first time since the Nanavati-Shah Inquiry Commission started probing the Godhra incident and the subsequent state-wide communal riots, a witness from Dariyapur area, who deposed before the Commission on Monday, said that he had videographed a Muslim man carrying an AK-47 rifle and using it to scare Hindu residents of the area.
Bhaktawar Shekhawat, a professional videographer and resident of Bhandari Pol in Dariyapur said that he had video-recorded the man in the first week of March, 2002. He told Justice G.T. Nana-vati and Justice K.G. Shah that he generally moved around the area with his video camera to record incidents of communal violence following the Sabarmati Express carnage in Godhra. He also alleged that Muslim residents of the area used to attack the Hindu houses periodically with acid bulbs and burning rags.
Shekhawat also submitted a video compact disc (VCD), which was accepted by the Commission and put on record. The VCD was later sealed by the Commission and kept in safe custody. Police sources said that Dariyapur police had, during the riots, investigated such claims but had failed to find anything.
Apart from Shekhawat's deposition, it proved to be a field day for Dariyapur Police Inspector Raju Rathod, whose role during the riots was praised by almost all the other 34 witnesses saying that he was unbiased. However, the Hindu residents of Dariyapur area, like their counterparts of Shahpur area, alleged before the Commission that Hindu residents in the Walled City area were targeted by the Muslim residents with the intention of driving them away and taking over their property.
Sherin Patel, a resident of Vadi
Gam area of Dariyapur, while deposing before the Commission, submitted
copies of revenue records and municipal records stating that certain properties
owned by Hindu residents had been bought by Muslims. Based on these documents,
Patel alleged before the Commission that Hindu residents are specifically
targeted during times of communal violence with the intention of driving
them away. He also alleged that their representations to the authorities
had fallen on deaf ears. However, during cross-examination by advocate
S.H. Qureshi, Patel admitted that neither he nor the other residents had
raised an objection when sale of such properties was being affected and
approved by the revenue authorities.