Ehsan Jafri

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Iqbal Ehsan Jafri
Ehsan Jafri

Born	1929 Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh
Died	2002-02-28 Ahmedabad
Spouse	Zakiya Jafri

Iqbal Ehsan Jafri (1929 – February 28, 2002) was an Indian Member of Parliament in the 6th Lok Sabha, representing the Indian National Congress Party, and was burnt to death in his own home by Hindu rioters during the Gujarat riots of 2002. He had been a noted trade unionist, and was one of the top party officials of the Congress party in Gujarat. His name is also written Ahsan Jafri.

The death of such a prominent ex-parliamentarian by rioters, and the inability of the government apparatus to come to his aid despite repeated desperate phone calls from top Congress officials over a period of five hours, has been pointed to by many as evidence of the Hindutva Bharatiya Janata Party state government's involvement in the riots^[1]. Further, the complete lack of progress in the case - most of the cases have been closed without arrest by 2007^[2], has also been seen as evidence of the state government complicity^[3].

In 2007, a Tehelka sting operation showed spycam film footage ^[4] on Aaj Tak of members of the Hindu rightist organizations RSS and VHP detailing the murder of Jafri^[2]. The report elicited no response from the Gujarat police, and four months later, the Supreme court appointed a high level investigative team, including the ex-chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate eleven major unresolved cases arising from the riots, including this murder^[5].

1 Life
2 Death at the hands of the mob
- 2.1 Tehelka sting investigation
3 Personal
4 References

[edit] Life

Ehsan Jafri was born in Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh in 1929. His father, Dr. Allahbaksh Jafri, was a freedom fighter in the Indian Independence Movement. In 1935, Ehsan moved to Ahmedabad, studying at the R.C. High School^[6]. He himself participated in some of the demonstrations related to the Indian Independence.

Eventually, Ehsan started empathizing with the large labour force working in the cloth mills and other industries of Ahmedabad. He became a noted labor union organizer, writing incisively on exploitation of the workers and calling attention to their grievances. In 1949 he was jailed in Baroda for one year related to his labour militancy. Subsequently, he was elected General Secretary of the Progressive Editor's Union. Around this time, he also completed his Law degree and started practicing as an attorney in Ahmedabad.

During the communal riots of 1969, Jafri's house was burnt down, and he had to move to the relief camp. Subsequently, he worked for greater Hindu-Muslim understanding, and continued to live in the same locality after rebuilding his house.

In the 1960s, he had joined the Congress Party of Indira Gandhi, and was heading the city unit by 1972. In 1977, after the emergency when the party was routed in most Indian states, Ehsan managed to win the Ahmedabad seat and became a parliamentarian in the 6th Lok Sabha. Thereafter, he remained active in the party and held several key organizational posts in the Congress Party Administration in Gujarat.

[edit] Death at the hands of the mob

On February 28, 2002, after the Godhra train burning, riots broke out in Gujarat, following rumours that a gang of Muslims had set a coach carrying Hindu pilgrims on fire. Although an eventual investigation initiated by the Indian National Congress government and carried out by retired Supreme Court of India judge Umesh Chandra Banerjee supposedly found a "preponderance of evidence"^[7] that the fire had been accidental, and had started inside the coach, the state, governed by Bharatiya Janata Party, was on the boil.

By early morning, a large Hindu mob gathered at the Gulberg Society in the Chamanpura suburb of Ahmedabad. This was an almost entirely Muslim housing society where the septuagenarian Ehsan Jafri lived. According to First Information Report of the incident filed by police inspector K.G. Erda^[8], the mob started attacking Muslim owned establishments in the morning and were disbursed by the police. However, they reassembled around 1 PM armed with swords, sticks, pipe and kerosene, and shouting the militant Hindu cry of "Jai Shri Ram"^[9]. The report by the Human Rights Watch affirms that a mob of thousands, dressed in saffron scarves and khaki shorts - the uniform of the RSS - and armed with swords^[1], had blown up gas cylinders to blast through walls in the Gulbarga society. The report also mentions that the rioters were guided by voter lists and computer printouts with the addresses of Muslim-owned properties, information obtained from the local municipal administration.^[1]

Chamanpura is in central Ahmedabad and barely a kilometer from the police station, and less than 2 km from the Police Commissioner's office^[10]. Believing the area to be safe given Jafri's presence, many Muslims in the area had gathered in his compound. Around 10:30 in the morning, the Ahmedabad Commissioner of Police, P.C. Pandey, personally visited Jafri and apparently assured him that police reinforcement would be coming. In the next five hours, Jafri and top Congress officials of the state repeatedly kept calling the police and other government officials requesting safe transport for the residents, but no help arrived^[10]. The FIR by Erda^[8] further stated that the police station had 130 policemen on duty that day, and were well armed with teargas shells. However, no one was deployed to disburse the crowd, despite Ehsan Jafri and top Congress politicians repeatedly contacting the Director General of Police, Police Commissioner, the Mayor, Leader of Opposition in the State parliament, and other top government officials^[11].

[edit] Tehelka sting investigation

In 2007, Ashish Khetan, an investigative journalist from Tehelka, acting as an RSS man from Delhi, obtained spycam film footage where one of the accused, Madan Chawal, describes how the "mob took cylinders from other houses. The cylinders were placed along the wall and set afire… resulting in an explosion that damaged the almost two-feet thick wall."^[2]. Subsequently, he said that Jafri opened fire on the mob and injured a few people. Finally he offered the mob money pleading for them to spare him and the other Muslims in Gulbarg. At this, the mob told him to come down to them with the money. As soon as he stepped out, he was grabbed.

Chawal recalled the killing: Paanch-chheh jan pakad liye the, phir usko jaise pakad ke khada rakha phir logon mein se kisi ne talwar maari… haath kaate… haath kaat ke phir pair kaate… phir na sab kaat dala… phir tukde kar ke phir lakda jo lagaye thhe, lakde uspe rakh ke phir jala daala… zinda jala daala…

Five or six people held him, then someone struck him with a sword… chopped off his hand, then his legs… then everything else… after cutting him to pieces, they put him on the wood they’d piled and set it on fire… burnt him alive…^[2]

The mode of murder corroborates with the fact that no part of Ehsan could be identified by his son. Only a sandal was found.

The RSS cadres interviewed by Tehelka also named the police inspector Erda (who also filed the FIR) as having told the rioters that they had 3-4 hours before Police would intervene. While the police accused in the case names three RSS workers, the cadres told Tehelka that the mob was actually led by Atul Vaid and Bharat Teli, two leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ^[2]. Subsequent to the report, there has been a media outcry to name them in the case. Eventually, in March 2008, the Supreme court announced a fresh inquiry by a high-level central team.

[edit] Personal

Jafri's wife, Zakiya Jafri, survived the carnage.

Ehsan Jafri had a lifelong interest in literature. While at school, he had brought out an Urdu magazine. He kept writing even during his years of Labour union struggle. In 1996, he published his volume of poetry titled Qandeel ("Lantern")^{[citation needed]}