The decision of the Supreme Court asking the Raghavan Committee  to probe the role of the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Carnage of 2002,  has certainly come as a ray of hope to the many victims.  Above all, this step by the Supreme Court has to be interpreted as a triumph of Justice and for its unstinted commitment to preserve the secular fabric of the Indian Constitution. 

For more than seven years now, the one earnest plea  by some of those concerned about the injustices of 2002, was that a full and proper investigation be conducted and that every effort be made to address this horrendous act committed on innocent people.  It was not without reason that the then Prime Minister Vajpayee when he visited Gujarat in 2002,   very directly demanded that the Chief Minister follow "Raj Dharma".  It was also not without reason that a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, while admitting applications on behalf of the victims, had to make references  like "modern day Nero". 

Obviously, there are many in Gujarat society who would best want the horrors of 2002 to be forgotten.  However,  one has to realize and accept that when a whole section of one's population is brutalized and decimated, things will never be the same again.  

The only way that one can help towards the realization of this normalcy, is to take a definite stand for the triumph  of Justice and Truth.   It will therefore be fitting for the people of Gujarat on this, the Diamond Jubilee year of the Constitution of India, to come out strongly as one people, to ensure that atleast in this land of Mahatma, that Ahimsa will come to stay and before that, we can proudly live in a land where 'Satyameva Jayate' are not only words that come out from our lips.

Perhaps, the auspicious Akshay Tritiya will definitely be the beginning for brightness to dispel the darkness from the lives of many of the victims of Gujarat Carnage 2002 !!!

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj

Director

'PRASHANT'