Indian police reopen nearly 1,600 cases on Gujarat riots
Afp, Ahmedabad
Indian police have reopened nearly 1,600 cases related to communal violence in the western state of Gujarat in 2002 in which some 2,000 people were killed, a top official said. Police will also hold inquiries into the conduct of 41 police officials who investigated the bloodletting. The move comes after India's Supreme Court asked police in Gujarat to reinvestigate 2,020 cases it had closed. "We have sent a fresh monthly report to the Supreme Court. The report says we have reopened 1,594 cases, of which 13 are fresh cases," said Gujarat police director general A.K. Bhargava, who heads a committee probing the riots. Human rights groups accuse the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party state government of turning a blind eye to the riots, in which Muslims were targetted. They also accuse the police of helping the rioting mobs and hushing up police cases against the accused after the violence. Bhargava said police had also made 640 fresh arrests in connection with the deadly clashes in Gujarat. The violence was sparked in February 2002 when a Muslim mob was accused of torching a train carriage in the town of Godhra, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims. Officials later found the fire was an accident. In December, residents of the village of Lunavada unearthed what they said was possibly a mass grave, containing the remains and clothes of eight people. Federal authorities were to conduct DNA tests on the skeletons to find out whether they were the remains of Gujarat victims.
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