The Siege of Akshardham

While medieval era sieges sought the use of warfare and military, modern-day sieges are far more brutal with the availability of the best weapons and support from terror groups. Such terror attacks capture the soul, schooling it to be terrified.

The Temple of Akshardham, Gujarat, Image Source- DNA India

Like every other day, the Akshardham Temple at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, was bustling with the crowd of devotees and tourists. Everyone was busy gawking at the marvel of the mandir when suddenly a commotion broke out. Around 4:50 p.m., two terrorists had infiltrated the complex of the mandir and went on a rampage. After mowing two young and innocent siblings (later revealed as Priya and Bailu Chauhan), they made their way towards the main temple. The temple supervisor, Khodsinh Jadhav, hurriedly shut the doors of the main temple to secure the public.

The frustrated terrorists now charged towards the exhibition halls, all the while throwing grenades and shooting randomly. In the meantime, Vishwavihari Swami alerted Chief Minister Narendra Modi to seek help. The State Commando force immediately arrived at the situation. Modi further requested that National Security Guards (NSG) be dispatched to save the civilians.

The arrival of the police brought some hope. They secured the tourists and pilgrims while hunting the terrorists. The terrorists who had earlier sought shelter in Exhibition Hall 1 now went up to the outer perimeter of the temple and opened fire on the police around 7:30 p.m.

It was then that the NSG entered the scene. After hatching the safest plan with minimal casualties, the NSG, along with the Rapid Action Force, Border Security Force, State Reserve Police and the Anti-Terrorist Squad, got to work. The game of mouse and cat thus begun. The Indian forces continued shooting at the terrorists to exhaust their resources. With the growing hour, the terrorists were becoming restless. It was clear that they were outnumbered, yet, they refused to surrender.

After a 14 hour long altercation, at around 6:45 a.m., the two terrorists were shot dead. The ordeal cost many lives, including the death of 30 civilians while injuring 80.

The investigation of the case was equally twisted and challenging. The Prevention of Terrorism Act or POTA Court in 2006 suspected the involvement of six perpetrators, namely Adam Ajmeri, Chand Khan, Mufti Abdul Qyyum Mansuri, Mohammed Salim Shaikh, Abdulmiyan Qadri and Altaf Hussain. The former three were sentenced to death, and the latter three were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 5 years to a lifetime.

An appeal made by some of the convicts in 2008 was rejected, and their verdicts were finalised until the intervention of the Supreme Court in 2014.

The bench consisting of Justices A K Patnaik and V Gopala Gowda believed that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the six suspects beyond a reasonable doubt. The bench further noted that there was no solid proof which confirmed the participation of the suspects in the conspiracy. The six suspects were thus, acquitted.

The poor investigation of the Gujarat police was slammed by the Supreme Court and proved to be one of the worst infringements of Article 21, which lays down the foundation of a fair trial.

Various forces trying to rescue the civilians, Image Source- The India Express