NEW DELHI, Nov 10: The Amnesty International has called for immediate action to end illegal detentions and torture, particularly of Muslims, in the Indian state of Gujarat.

The report — Abuse of the law in Gujarat: Muslims detained illegally in Ahmedabad — chronicles the persecution of Muslims in the commercial capital of the state during and after the carnage last year that killed some 2,000 Muslims, according to rights groups.

The state government was accused by national and international rights groups of turning a blind eye to the violence.

“Information contained in this report points to a systematic pattern of human rights violations being carried out in Ahmedabad with the support of the state government and institutions of the criminal justice system with little or no chance of redress for its victims,” the Amnesty said in the report, released last week.

“It also reinforces concerns about discrimination against Muslims within the criminal justice system in the state.”

A majority of those arrested for the riots have been Muslims, many of whom have pleaded their cases be heard outside of Gujarat as they felt they were being denied justice.

In one of the bloodiest incidents during the carnage, a group of Hindu men attacked the Best Bakery with petrol bombs and knives, burning to death 12 Muslims.

Twenty-one men charged with the attack were acquitted on June 27 after 35 witnesses retracted statements.

A key Muslim witness, Zaheera Sheikh, 19, approached the National Human Rights Commission about holding a new trial outside Gujarat because she lied in court after death threats by local leaders of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules Gujarat.

The commission asked the supreme court to look into the matter. The court reprimanded the state government and even asked Chief Minister Narendra Modi to quit if he could not protect Muslims.

In an interview to Financial Times of London on Friday, Mr Vajpayee pledged to punish the perpetrators of the massacre.

“Our public, media and judiciary are following it closely. Justice will not only seen to be done; it will be done,” he said.

But Amnesty said the law in Gujarat was being “blatantly used against the Muslim community”.

“...Ahmedabad police from Gayakwad Haveli Police station have routinely resorted to arbitrary and illegal and incommunicado detention,” the report said.

It added that those arrested were denied access to lawyers and relatives or medical attention and were tortured or ill-treated to induce confessions.

“The courts in Gujarat have to date failed to take any action to prevent or investigate and prosecute most of these illegal actions despite on occasion being confronted with allegations and evidence,” it said.

“The widespread use of incommunicado detention by police against members of the Muslim minority in Ahmedabad is reported to have terrorized the Muslim community who have been too scared to make official complaints.”

Amnesty said its report was prepared after discussions with lawyers and rights activists, most of whom had been harassed and threatened, and not based on interviews in Gujarat as it was still awaiting permission from the Indian government to visit the state. —AFP