Family's five year battle for justice
THE families of three Batley men killed while on holiday in India are still fighting for justice after five long years of heartache and frustration.
Five years ago this month, cousins Saeed Dawood, 42, and Sakil Dawood, 37, along with family friend Mohammed Aswat, 42, were travelling through the state of Gujarat in west India after visiting the Taj Mahal when they were ambushed by a mob and killed.
Saeed and Sakil’s nephew, Imran Dawood, then 18, was stabbed in the incident but survived.
The attack happened during three days of sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims, in which more than 1,000 people died.
The families of the British tourists have been campaigning for justice ever since but, to date, no-one has been convicted of the killings.
Angry at what they saw as inaction by the Gujarat government, the Dawood family made legal history in 2004 when they decided to take 13 high-ranking officials to court in India.
Imran Dawood, along with Saeed and Sakil’s widows Shameema and Shireen, accused the Hindu Gujarat government of genocide by colluding with rioters against Muslims during the three days of violence.
They were seeking 2.8m in damages.
But the case is still in progress more than two years later.
The Dawood family are also concerned that as proceedings are being held in Gujarat, it may lead to bias.
They applied to have it transferred to another Indian state, but this was dismissed by the country’s supreme court last month.
The long-running legal action is proving expensive for the Batley family.
A spokesman for the family said: “By launching a civil action against officials of the Gujarat government, the justice campaign has taken on board a commitment which requires considerable financial support. We need your help.”
Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood (Lab) lent his support to the Dawoods’ ongoing civil case.
He said: “It was obviously a very tragic event which affected a lot of people in Batley.
“I have supported the family in wanting to achieve justice.”
He said for a long time he believed the British government could help the Dawood family by diplomatic means but now they had tried everything possible.
He said: “The family has started a long battle in India to bring named individuals to account but recently they had a knock-back.
“The pity is that the Indian authorities seem completely unwilling, at Gujarati level or national level, to get involved.
“That having been said, if there’s anything I can do to help, I will do.”
Further details about the fight for justice can be found at www.dawoodcampaign.org.
l Five years of frustration – see p5.
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Weather for Batley
Sunday 05 February 2012
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Temperature: 3 C to 6 C
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