Impunity and power are old friends in India's western state of Gujarat, which is home to over 50m people. In 2002 some 2,000 Muslims were murdered there, in a pogrom carried out with the collusion of police and senior members of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (bjp). No high-level convictions followed. But the bjp's knack of eluding justice in the state, which it still rules, may be fading. On July 25th a minister of state, Amit Shah, was arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a suspected extortioner. The case, though unrelated to the events of 2002, may prove damaging for Gujarat's chief minister, Na-rendra Modi, a talented politician with ambitions to lead his party and country.
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