Even as the victims of Gujarat carnage nearly two years back are a forgotten lot, the survivors of independent India's worst ever communal violence since Mumbai riots in the wake of 1992 Babri Mosque demolition continue to suffer the agony that it ensued. Constantly hounded by Hindutva activists they are terrorised into silence and haunted by a spectre of uncertainty never experienced before. Even if the most violent phase of the persecution was brought to a halt with the equally articulated protests of India's highly conscientious civil society and human rights activists the vicious VHP/RSS goons were never deflected from their goal of decimating the Muslim minority of the state. With a well-calibrated policy the same tormentors have been pursuing their goal through a slow and silent way of strangulation of the community making its existence untenable in a hostile environment. Emboldened by the re-election of Narendra Modi, the architect of last year's pogrom who described a tragedy claiming at least 2000 lives -- mostly Muslims -- as "some stray incidents", the BJP's ultra right elements trample with impunity whatever little human rights are left for the minority by making a travesty of justice and life miserable for those who want to resume their normal life.

Remember Qutubuddin Ansari of Ahmedabad? His photograph with folded hand, begging for mercy from the killer mob -- splashed across newspapers worldwide turning his face into an icon of 2002 post-Godhra riots and stark symbol of fear that prevailed then? Qutubuddin had survived the moment frozen in now famous photograph but his life thereafter was a rough ride althrough, because the atmosphere had vitiated in the meantime. He did not immediately lose his tailoring job at the Hindu-owned readymade garment unit but his trouble started when streams of media persons focussed their attention on him and also police occasionally dropped in for questioning. Finally he was asked to quit the job by his boss who feared that the media blitz would land him and his business in problem. Having lost his job, Qutubuddin moved to Malegaon in Maharastra with a relation but there too the locals and media recognised him.

Haunted by his self-image Qutubuddin now wanted to take refuge in anonymity which had been made possible by an extraordinary gesture of CPI-M government in West Bengal. Moved by Ansari's plight it offered him and his family a new home in Kolkata. Unable to stay in his birth place where he lived for decades Ansari finally decided to accept the offer but with a heavy heart hoping that he would be able to return to his kith and kins in Gujarat sooner or later.

The sad tale of Zaheera Shaikh of Vardodara who is witness to the murder of all of her family members in the 'Best Bakery carnage' is even more moving. She has been threatened into silence barring her from telling the truth to the trial court. Three versions of her statement -- one to the police, another to the court and third one before the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) explain her predicaments. To police she stated to have seen eight persons being killed. To trial court she showed her inability to identify any one of the killers. Only with the NHRC she confided the reason for her turning hostile in the court. Obviously the special first track court acquitted in the case all twenty-one accused on June 27 last in absence of any credible evidence after 35 out of 60 witnesses including Zaheera Shaikh, the key evidence, had turned hostile.

The NHRC promptly called it a 'miscarriage of justice' asserting that the court was not merely the 'court of evidence' and the onus of dispensing justice also lay with it. It was further observed that it was upto the court to devise ways how it will the court dispense it. The NHRC has subsequently sought a retrial of the 'Best Bakery Case' outside Gujarat. Not only Zaheera Shaikh will be compelled to live with her crudely suppressed emotions, she will also be subjected to fresh spate of intimidation if a re-trial does take place.

The Naroda Patiya massacre had been one of the most gory incidents in the history of riots. The victims were hacked and then burnt to death. The women were raped and mauled. The mob reportedly slit the belly of a pregnant woman. Even officially 83 persons were killed in the massacre. Yet the witnesses of the massacre have already been told by the local VHP leader, who is among the accused, not to turn up in the court. The community leaders are already implicated in criminal cases and put into the jails so that they lose the will and courage to fight a legal battle against their persecutors. The message is loud and clear: In Gujarat you have to stay silent to remain alive. A stark denial of justice is what seems to be the order of the day in Modi's Gujarat.

Arzoobibi of Kidiad village in Sabarkantha district dodged death twice while fleeing her village when it went up in flame on 02 March, 2003. The tempo cab she travelled was intercepted by armed mob, but the tempo managed to speed off. Finally the tempos packed with as many as 73 people including one that got away were caught and set on fire. Arzoo's family was lucky survivor but her ordeal started later because she and Ayub, her husband were main witnesses in police FIR. A local BJP activist who is also an accused in the case threatened to burn down their homestead if they testified in the court. Arzoobibi chose to protect lives rather than seek punishment for the guilty. In the court she testified that she did not see anything as she was unconscious during the incident.

The story of Safiya narrated by her brother Muhammadbhai before a reporter is horrifying. Returning home from his daily namaaz in the afternoon he saw a well-armed mob of about 500 people in Khaki shorts and saffron headbands attacking his modest home. While most of the mob left after looting and burning, a few remained behind to perform more devious crimes. At the peak of the orgy a few men grabbed his widowed sister Safiya and beat her till she could no longer stand. Then they raped her and stabbed her repeatedly in the abdomen and pelvis. They left her for dead and moved on.

Muhammadbhai hid near the mosque, frozen, his senses not responding to anything that he saw. He simply watched it all. When the police arrived at the scene every body left except Muhammadbhai who was, by some strange logic moved to a safer place leaving the fatally injured woman behind. However, hours later some villagers gathered courage to take Safiya and her mother who also was fatally injured to a local hospital where the mother was declared dead and Safiya operated on. After her third operation in Ahmedabad where she was shifted in precarious condition Safiya died on May 6, 2002.

The FIR with its record of "minor injuries" and the cruel end-joke of her death due to "renal failure and septicemia" in post mortem report made it certain that there will be no record of savagery that Safiya suffered, no punishment for her rapists and tormentors, no compensation for her family for all the neglect and agony of her months in hospitals, and, of course, no investigations into her death.

These are only a few of the numerous cases of the continuing sufferings for the survivors as well as the denial of justice brought to the light by untiring efforts of Human Rights activists and an enlightened Indian Press. To them it is now the round three for the Gujarat riot victims when they have to deal with a criminal justice system that is skewed. The police investigations were deliberately shoddy. No efforts were made to gather evidence. In an environment where the state machinery supports the accused, the penniless witnesses with their memories of terror somehow persists in their battle for justice.

In the dark horizon of despair and despondency there is however a flicker of hope in the NHRC's decision to approach the supreme court seeking a retrial of Gujarat riot cases in the courts outside the state. It's also consistent with its pro-active role it has been taking eversince the magnitude of post-Godhra violence last year shocked public conscience. There are constitutional imperatives for a pluralistic democracy like India where there cannot be denial of justice, no second class citizen or minorities. Modi's outlook and policies are viciously sectarian. If implemented, as he is trying to do in Gujarat they can destroy India. Will India of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru let it happen?

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.