Rioters on the streets during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Photo Courtesy Gujaratplus.com
Rioters on the streets during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Photo Courtesy Gujaratplus.com

Killing for the state

Rana Ayyub’s ‘Gujarat Files’ looks at how caste, religion and communal politics shaped the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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Growing up in Kashmir in the early 1990s, I was conscious of the state-sponsored rapes, disappearances and killing of unarmed civilians. There were no tribunals or mechanisms that could deliver justice to the victims of violence – each case only beaded into the more complex structure of violence and impunity. This pattern of impunity continues and exposes India's fractured justice system.

In her recent book, Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a cover up, journalist Rana Ayyub narrates a similar story of lawlessness – of "killing with impunity". The spine-chilling investigative account gives credence to the voice of many: for the first time, people in position of power during the 2002 Gujarat riots, and a series of murky murders that followed, have opened up about their role. Embedded in Ayyub's investigative account, these characters confirm what some activists and journalists have repeatedly said since 2002.

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Himal Southasian
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