Survivors of Gujarat Riots, Relatives Seek Damages

June 14, 2005

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: AFP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050614/wl_sthasia_afp/indiagujaratunrest_050614045545

On June 14, 2005 Agence France-Presse reported, "Survivors of one of the worst massacres during the 2002 sectarian riots in Gujarat filed a compensation claim against the western Indian state's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party. Over 120 people from the minority Muslim community were burnt or hacked to death by Hindu mobs in February 2002 in two separate residential colonies. A former member of parliament, Ehsan Jaffri, from the opposition Congress Party, was among those killed in the riots. 'Today, I have filed a civil suit for compensation along with 24 other families of the Gulbarg Society who lost all in a single day of communal hatred,' said his son Tanvir Jaffri. He said the victims were seeking total damages of seven million rupees (162,800 dollars) from the BJP state government as well as Hindu right wing groups."