India court orders review of anti-Muslim riots

By: Nizam Hussain

NEW DELHI, India: The Supreme Court of India has ordered 2,000 cases stemming from Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat state two-years ago be reinvestigated because of possible anti-Muslim bias on the part of the state authorities.

Human-rights workers, who say the state's Hindu-nationalist government was complicit in the deaths of hundreds of Muslims, hailed the decision. Also, prominent Muslim groups and individuals on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court order.

The Court ordered Gujarat's state government to set up a high-level police committee to re-investigate human-rights cases that were closed two-years ago, because police said they could not find the suspects.

Up to 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in a wave of rioting in Gujarat in 2002.

Human-rights groups charge that the Hindu-nationalist government of Gujarat instigated the rioting and then blocked attempts to investigate those responsible for the killings.

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