Ehsan Jafri
Ehsan Jafri | |
|---|---|
 Ehsan Jafri | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1929 Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh |
| Died | 28 February 2002 Ahmedabad |
| Spouse | Zakia Jafri |
Ehsan Jafri (1929 – 28 February 2002) was an ex-Parliamentarian from India who was hacked and burnt to death in 2002 in his own home by a group of anti-Muslim Hindu rioters during the Gujarat riots of 2002 in which 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed after the Godhra train burning in which 58 Hindus were killed. He was killed in his home at Gulbarg Society, Ahmedabad.
Life
Ehsan Jafri was born in Burhanpur, present day Madhya Pradesh in 1929, and his father was Dr. Allahbaksh Jafri. In 1935, Ehsan moved to Ahmedabad, studying at the R.C. High School.[1]
Subsequently, he was elected General Secretary of the Progressive Editor's Union. Around this time, he also completed his Law degree and started practising as an attorney in Ahmedabad.[citation needed]
In the 1960s, he had joined the Congress Party of Indira Gandhi, and was heading the city unit by 1972. In 1977, after the emergency when the party was routed in most Indian states, Ehsan managed to win the Ahmedabad seat and became a parliamentarian in the 6th Lok Sabha. Thereafter, he remained active in the party and held several key organizational posts in the Congress Party Administration in Gujarat.
Death
On 28 February 2002, when riots broke out in Gujarat, he was killed by a rampaging mob. By early morning, a large mob gathered at the Gulberg Society in the Chamanpura suburb of Ahmedabad. This was an almost entirely Muslim housing society where the septuagenarian Ehsan Jafri lived. According to First Information Report of the incident filed by police inspector K.G. Erda,[2] the violent Hindu mob started attacking Muslim owned establishments in the morning and were dispersed by the police. However, they reassembled around 1 PM armed with swords, sticks, pipe and kerosene.[3] had blown up gas cylinders to blast through walls in the Gulbarg Society. The report also mentions that the rioters were guided by voter lists and computer printouts with the addresses of Muslim-owned properties, information obtained from the local municipal administration.[4][unreliable source?] This claim was repeated by at least five Muslim witnesses presented before the Nanavati Commission[citation needed].
Gory details of how former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was hacked limb by limb at Gulbarg Society, then burnt, have been reported in Indian media exposes, in the words of those who did it."[5]
Chamanpura is in central Ahmedabad and barely a kilometre from the police station, and less than 2 km from the Police Commissioner's office.[6] Believing the area to be safe given Jafri's presence, many Muslims in the area had gathered in his compound. Around 10:30 in the morning, the Ahmedabad Commissioner of Police, P.C. Pandey, personally visited Jafri and apparently assured him that police reinforcement would be coming. In the next five hours, Jafri and top Congress officials of the state repeatedly kept calling the police and other government officials requesting safe transport for the residents, but no help arrived.[6] The FIR by Erda[2] further stated that the police station had 130 policemen on duty that day, and were well armed with teargas shells. However, no one was deployed to disperse the crowd, despite Ehsan Jafri and top Congress politicians repeatedly contacting the Director General of Police, Police Commissioner, the Mayor, Leader of Opposition in the State parliament, and other top government officials.[7]
Investigation of death
The Tehelka report elicited no response from the Gujarat police, and four months later, the Supreme court appointed a high level investigative team, including the ex-chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate eleven major unresolved cases arising from the riots, including this murder.[8] However in April 2012, a Special Investigation Team found that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had absolutely no role in the killing of Ehsan Jafri[9] Later a protest petition was filed by his wife Zakia Jafri seeking rejection of the said SIT report to local Metropolitan Magistrate B J Ganatra.[10][11][12] SIT has strongly opposed this petition[13] and said that "Modi has never said that go and kill people".[14] Later Supreme Court through Gujarat High Court stayed the routine transfer of the metropolitan magistrate who was hearing the petition on the information of the amicus curiae Harish Salve that the routine transfer due to the end of his term may delay the case.[11][12] However in December 2013, metropolitan court rejected the petition.[15] Zakia told she will appeal against it in the higher court in a month.[15]
Personal life
Jafri's wife, Zakia Jafri, survived the carnage. His daughter, Nishrin Hussain, lives in Delaware.[16]
Ahsan Jafri had a lifelong interest in literature. While at school, he had brought out an Urdu magazine. He kept writing even during his years of Labour union struggle. In 1996, he published his volume of poetry titled Qandeel ("Lantern") in Urdu.[16]
References
- ^ Ahsan Jafri Biography
- ^ a b FIR no. 4/5.200, filed at Meghani Nagar police station, quoted in book by Varadarajan, p. 140-141
- ^ Gujarat: the making of a tragedy (2002). Siddharth Varadarajan. Penguin Books India.p.140-144
- ^ "Police officials led attackers: HRW report on Muslims' massacre in Gujarat". Dawn. 30 April 2002.
- ^ "Gujarat 2002: The Truth In the Words of the Men Who Did It". Tehelka. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Scarred Gulbarg families wait on for justice". The Indian Express. 4 March 2007.
- ^ Stavan Desai (28 November 2004). "Express Investigation: Top cops knew ex-Cong MP Ehsan Jafri was burning, his friend had sent out SOS". Indian Express. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ "Top guns given go ahead to reinvestigate Guj riots". CNN-IBN. 26 March 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ Narendra Modi had no hand in Jafri killing, says SIT Hindustan Times - 10 April 2012
- ^ "Zakia Jafri's plea against Modi to be heard". Hindustan Times. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- ^ a b "SC steps in, HC revokes transfer of magistrate hearing Zakia plea". Indian Express. 12 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Hearing on Zakia Jafri's plea to resume". Zee News. 15 May 2013.
- ^ "SIT opposes Zakia's plea on Modi clean chit". Hindustan Times. 24 April 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- ^ "Modi did not incite riots: SIT". Hindustan Times. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
- ^ a b "Zakia's plea against clean chit to Modi rejected". The Hindu. 26 December 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
- ^ a b "Jafri's NRI daughter pays tearful visit to Gulbarg Society". Times of India. 9 September 2002. Retrieved 14 May 2010.