Breaking her long silence, Rupa Mody, whose 14-year-old son had gone missing during the Gulbarg Society massacre in 2002, said on Sunday the victims of the 2002 communal mayhem in the state have finally started getting justice after a long wait of seven years.

Speaking for the first time after the arrest of Valsad Dy Superintendent of Police, K G Erda in connection with the Gulbarg Society massacre of February 28, 2002, Mody, whose plight was screened in the movie Parzania, told Newsline: " The arrest of policemen like Erda and the probable arrest of ministers and higher-ups named by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), proves that some independent investigating agency is finally acting on our complaints. It seems the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots have finally started getting justice after a seven-year-long wait."

Erda, the inspector of Meghaninagar police station at that time, has been arrested by the SIT on the charges of abetment, destruction of evidence and forging facts and information in order to help some of the accused.

According to the statements of some of the victims of Gulbarg Society massacre, Erda had allegedly misquoted them in their complaints.

The complainants, whose statements were distorted allegedly by Erda include the Mody couple, whose 14-year-old son Azhar had gone missing during the massacre. More than seven years after the incident, police are still clueless about Azhar's whereabouts.

Reacting to Erda's arrest, Mody said, "I am just one of the victims of the communal riots in Gujarat. Hundreds lost their family members that day. I pray for justice for not only me, but for all those thousands of other victims, with whom I empathise."

Rahul Dholakia's movie, Parzania, was based on the plight of Mody and her husband Dara Mody. The Parsi couple's son, Azhar, also called Parzan by the couple, had gone missing on the day of Gulbarg Society massacre. Soon after its release, Parzania ran into trouble as saffron outfits opposed its screening in the state. The movie was banned unofficially in the state and multiplex owners had decided not to screen it in Gujarat.

Gulbarg Society in Chamanpura suburbs of the city comes under the jurisdiction of Meghaninagar police, which was headed by K G Erda at that time.

When asked about Mody's comments on what she told the SIT during her recent deposition, she said, "It will be all out on February 15 this year, when the SIT submits its report in the Supreme Court. I have full faith in the team."

According to SIT records, Mody had deposed before the team on May 22 last year. Highly placed sources said that she had accused several policemen, including Erda, for allegedly fabricating statements in their complaints.

In her statement before the SIT, Rupa had been quoted saying that she had spoken to the Gujarat DGP, P C Pande, on her brother-in-law's phone on February 28, 2002.

"My husband's elder brother was sitting with the then Ahmedabad police commissioner (P C Pande) at that time. I spoke to the latter on my brother-in-law's phone. Pande had inquired about the total number of Muslims who had taken refuge in the house of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. The phone got disconnected after this," Mody had said in her deposition.