The gory incidents of 2002 communal riots still haunt the survivors at the Gulbarg Society in Meghaninagar. On Sunday, the victims, survivors and the people who are rendering legal support to them, congregated there to pay tributes to those who lost their lives in the post-Godhra riots.
Scars of the riots are visible everywhere in the Society, a cluster of bungalows amid middle class habitations in the eastern part of the city, which was once famous for its textile mills. If one happens to visit the place, one would be surprised that it was ever inhabited by humans.
The Society looks more like a jungle with thick vegetation and long grass that have grown all over the place in eight years since the February-March 2002 violence.
Sayeed Khan Pathan, who has lost many family members in the riots and is currently living with his son and daughter-in law in Juhapura, said, "The survivors of the 2002 riots left the place after the incident and do not want to return to the Society as the place still haunts them."
The Society, with 18 bungalows and eight flats, draws its name from the famous Gulbarg gardens in Kashmir, said Khan.
Imitiaz Khan Pathan, another survivor, said that the survivors are living with the hope that they will get justice someday. Pathan said he had stated in an open court that while his house was being attacked by rioters, Congress leader Ahesan Jafri had made a phone call to chief minister Narendra Modi for help, only to be abused by the latter.
Retired IPS officer RB Sreekumar, who is fighting for the cause of the victims since long, said to curb such types of incidents, there should be maximum convictions in such cases and people who are directly or indirectly involved should be punished.
The Gulbarg Society massacre, in which 68 lives were lost, is being investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). Police have arrested 65 accused in the case.
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