NGO Association for Protection of Civil Rights on Thursday said they would seek a review of a Supreme Court decision that overruled a Gujarat High Court order, asking the state government to pay for the repair and reconstruction of religious shrines destroyed in the post-Godhra riots of 2002.

At a press conference held at the Marathi Patrakar Sangh, a four-member panel emphasised on the need “to spread awareness about issues arising from Supreme Court judgment refusing compensation for destruction of places of worship during Gujarat riots of 2002, resulting in distortion of concept of secularism”.

The speakers at the event included senior advocate Yusuf Muchala, former judge of Bombay High Court Hosbet Suresh, noted lawyer Flavia Agnes and Dolphy D’souza, a human rights activist.

The press conference focused on the Supreme Court’s verdict delivered in the case of state of Gujarat vs. Islamic Relief Committee Gujarat (IRCG) on August 29, 2017. It claimed that the SC had “failed to appreciate the grievance of the victims faced by them during the Gujarat riots in 2002, during which 567 places of worship were destroyed during the communal violence”.

According to the organisation, the SC judgment fails to recognise that the relief for compensation claimed in the proceedings was not to promote or maintain any particular religion, but as compensation for the losses suffered.

“We are going to file a review petition in the Supreme Court as we are deeply disappointed with the judgement,” said Muchhala, who represented IRCG in the apex court. “Such an approach of the SC has given rise to untrue but unfortunate perception within religious minorities that SC has failed to live up to it’s constitutional role to act as ‘benevolent neutral”, he said.

The association also claimed that the Supreme Court had not taken into consideration the manner in which the Gujarat government treated two special reports and one annual report of the National Human Rights Commission, which had stated that there was “comprehensive failure” of law and order in Gujarat and had recommended that the places of worship destroyed in the violence be repaired expeditiously.