Remembering Zakia Jafri, Gujarat riots activist whose fight for justice echoes beyond her lifetime

A discussion was held at New Delhi’s Press Club Thursday to commemorate Zakia Jafri's resilience & unwavering courage. Zakia's husband Ehsan Jafri was killed in 2002 Gujarat riots.

Discussion held Thursday at New Delhi’s Press Club to commemorate Zakia Jafri’s resilience and unwavering courage | Zenaira Bakhsh | ThePrint

New Delhi: Nearly a month after the passing of Zakia Jafri—who spent over two decades seeking justice for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots—a discussion was held at the Press Club here to commemorate her resilience and unwavering courage.

Zakia’s son, Tanveer Jafri, and daughter, Nishrin Jafri, reflected on their mother’s prolonged legal battle and the brutal killing of their father, former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. He was among 69 people slaughtered in the Gulbarg Society massacre, a Muslim neighbourhood targeted during the riots in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Determined to hold those in power accountable, Zakia pursued legal action against the state administration. She passed away at the age of 86, on 1 February in Ahmedabad. 

“She used the law to highlight the violence against Muslims during the Gujarat riots. She exposed how the administration turned a blind eye to the cries for justice—if they had not, Gulbarg wouldn’t have happened,” senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan said at the event. 

In 2006, Zakia filed a police complaint, accusing 63 individuals by name including government officials and then-Gujarat chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “aiding and abetting the co-accused persons involved in mass carnage that shook the state of Gujarat and the country between February 2002 and May, 2002”.

According to testimonies from Zakia’s children, as well as activists, lawyers, and journalists who witnessed the violence, both the police and top politicians failed to intervene, leaving victims—including Ehsan—without protection.

With the support of the human rights organisation Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), Zakia became the face of the legal fight for victims of the 2002 riots.

In response to her relentless efforts, the Supreme Court ordered a reinvestigation into nine major riot cases, including the Gulbarg Society killings. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed, but in 2012, it filed a closure report.

In 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed Zakia’s plea challenging the SIT’s closure report.

A violent memory

A day before the 23rd anniversary of the Gujarat riots, Tanveer revisited the horrors of 28 February 2002. He recalled that his parents were living in Gulbarg Society, which consisted of 19 houses. As violence erupted, many sought refuge in the Jafri home, hoping for safety.

By morning, a mob armed with swords surrounded the colony. Ehsan frantically called the police for help. Around 9 am, the police commissioner arrived and assured him that the force would protect Muslims. However, when Ehsan later called Chief Minister Modi, Tanveer claimed he “received a negative reply”.

Realising that no help was coming, Ehsan attempted to reason with the mob. But as the hours passed, the crowd swelled. Soon, Gulbarg Society was engulfed in flames. Sixty-nine people, including Ehsan, were killed. “He was dragged and killed right there,” Tanveer said.

Zakia was among the survivors. Separated from her husband, she managed to escape to Ahmedabad with the help of a distant relative. From there, she called Tanveer, who lived in Surat, to inform him of the violence. For days, she clung to the hope that her husband was still alive, unaware of his brutal murder. “When she finally accepted that he wasn’t coming back, she was consumed by darkness. But she insisted that a case must be filed against his killers,” Tanveer told the audience. Thus began her decades-long legal battle.

Even as the years passed, Zakia never wavered. “She kept the case alive. She kept believing in justice—until her last breath,” Tanveer said.

In a video message, Jafri’s daughter Nishrin shared how the Gujarat riots were not the first time violence had shattered their family. In 1969, their home was set on fire during another wave of communal riots when Zakia was a young woman. After that incident, many advised Ehsan not to return to the same neighbourhood. But he refused to leave, choosing to remain in the place he called home.

During the 1969 violence, Nishrin recalled how her mother had pleaded with the mob to spare their Hindu house help. “They were pelting stones at her, but she kept shouting that she wasn’t Muslim—that she shouldn’t be killed,” Nishrin said.

Yet, years later, history repeated itself. This time, not only was their home burned down, but Ehsan was brutally murdered. Nishrin noted that in the last 20 years, she had never seen her mother cry. “But there was always pain in her smile. Her greatest sorrow was being torn away from her people and losing the place she called home.”

‘System failed him’

Human rights activist and writer Harsh Mander, who visited Gujarat during the riots, said Ehsan embodied India’s secular ideals. “His last thought was that even if he died, others should be saved,” Mander said. “But the system failed him.”

Women’s rights activist Syeda Hameed, who also visited Gujarat in 2002, described the lasting impact of the violence. “Since that time, extreme darkness has spread across the country,” she said. The greatest challenge, she warned, is ensuring that the memory of the 2002 riots is not erased. “It should continue to disturb us,” she said.

At the discussion, human rights activist John Dayal described the violence as a “conspiracy of aggression”. He recalled that repeated calls to the police went unanswered. While Zakia initially fought for justice for her husband, Dayal said she eventually found inner strength and became a symbol of resilience.

Having visited Gujarat in the aftermath of the riots, Dayal and other activists learned from survivors that the police had effectively enabled the violence. “The Islamophobia in India will doom the country,” he warned, adding that children, youth, police, and even judges were being conditioned into prejudice.

Despite the darkness, he said, “Zakia’s life was a lesson for all of us”.

(Edited by Radifah Kabir)