It has been almost 18 years since Sabarmati Express carnage which led to communal riots took place in Gujarat. The stories of deceit and false implication of innocent men and women are still coming out almost two decades later. A report by Sunday Guardian states that one Mangalben, whose husband Shashikant alias Tinniyo was falsely implicated in riots, has sought compensation from Gujarat government for malicious prosecution.
As per the report, Shashikant spent 15 years in jail owing to mistaken identity. Shashikant, who had actually saved 17 other Muslims during the Gujarat riots, was falsely implicated by Abdul Sattar, an autorickshaw driver, over personal enmity. Shabana Bano, who had also given a statement against Shashikant, admitted that she gave a false statement because she was paid Rs 10,000. Sattar died a few years ago and Bano has reportedly left Gujarat.
Read: Watch: Tulsi Gabbard shuts down ‘Gujarat riots’ lies against PM Modi with one epic reply
Shashikant, who spent 15 years in prison, died of twin heart attack in 2018. The Sunday Guardian report states that Shashikant, whose father was a police constable, was arrested right after the riots. He was taken to identification parade a total of three times within one and a half month of riots. Abdul Sattar, who was present in first two identification parades, said that Shashikant was involved in the third time. Even then he was not arrested. His father told his colleagues his son was being framed because of personal grudges of Abdul Sattar. Sattar was earlier booked by police for domestic violence for beating up his wife. Shashikant, reportedly, often reprimanded Sattar. Sattar felt Shashikant was interfering and hence, Shashikant’s father felt, was falsely implicating his son.
Widow of Shashikant says he actually saved a few Muslims from Bihar and Bengal who were caught in the Gujarat riots. Despite this, his shop was burnt and looted. The family moved to Bhopal for a while but then they were widely reported as they were on the run. Shashikant got bail in 2005 but was again sent back to prison because Sattar claimed he was getting threats from Shashikant. The family claims that when a neighbour tried to take Shashikant’s side and tell police that he had not gone out of house, Sattar filed a complaint against that neighbour too.
Soon after, Shashikant’s father passed away. Upon his release, Shashikant could not walk on the streets without feeling humiliated. He eventually died of twin heart attacks.
2002 Naroda Patiya foetus case
Shashikant’s case is just another case which caught national attention when accusations were levied but were buried in a corner when truth was revealed. The allegations, taken on face value as truth, are still believed as truth in many cases. Another such case is of the Naroda Patiya where one Zareena Sheikh, a resident of Husseinnagar, claimed she witnessed murder of Kauser Bano, who was pregnant.
Zareena Bano claimed she saw a mob ‘rip open Kauser’s stomach, remove the foetus with a tip of the sword, rotate it and flung it into the fire’ before burning Kauser. This statement continues to be widely accepted as truth.
As the MLA of Naroda, she gave weapons & info to Hindu mobs who killed 97 Muslims – hacked infants & old men, raped girls, tore open a 9 month pregnant woman’s belly & burnt the foetus.
Eyewitness testimonies & confessions are in the public domain.
Hindu state let her go. https://t.co/8ZmbAG0GcU
— omer (@intellectroll) April 20, 2018
You are right. RSS is a national volunteer org with members like Babu Bajrangi who said he & his men killed 91 Muslim men & women at Naroda Patiya. He further said that they raped a pregnant women, slit open her womb, and threw her & the foetus into a fire.
Nationalistic indeed! pic.twitter.com/JxpsHoCX2L— ????? ????? (@priyapyadav18) April 16, 2019
When I ripped out foetus of a pregnant muslim woman nd put it on the tip of a sword,I felt like Maharana Pratap ~Babu Bajrangi
Bajrangi gets bail frm Supreme Court in d Naroda Patiya massacre of Guj. Riots.
He can now contest elections for the upcoming Lok Sabha on BJP ticket..— Nadeem Gaur (@NADEEMGOUR_) March 8, 2019
A 2010 report states that the doctor who conducted post-mortem on Kauser, found the foetus intact. Dr J S Kanoria, who had conducted the autopsy on 2nd March, 2002 presented supporting documents to the special court and said that the foetus was intact in the woman’s womb. The foetus weight 2,500 gms and was 45 cms long. While Kauser’s death was unfortunate, the lies surrounding it only fanned the bitterness in an already embittered environment.
Shashikant was painted as a key conspirator in the Naroda Patiya case on statement of Abdul Sattar who had personal grudge against him. Mangalben, Shashikant’s widow, is now taking on the government machinery and is filing a case in the high court.
