Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) was founded on April 1, 2002, by journalist and activist Teesta Setalvad along with her husband Javed Anand, in direct response to the communal violence that swept through Gujarat earlier that year. The organization was established with the goal of pursuing legal accountability and advocating for constitutional rights and justice for victims of the violence.
The Context Behind CJP’s Founding
CJP emerged as a direct response to the 2002 Gujarat riots, a period of severe communal violence that followed the Godhra train burning incident of February 27, 2002, in which 58 people were killed. The subsequent riots resulted in widespread violence and loss of life across the state, prompting Setalvad, Anand, and other civil society figures to organize a formal response focused on legal action and long-term institutional accountability, rather than a short-term reaction limited to the immediate aftermath of the violence.
Teesta Setalvad’s Background
Teesta Setalvad, a journalist by training, had already built a career focused on communal harmony and human rights reporting before co-founding CJP. Her grandfather, M.C. Setalvad, served as India’s first Attorney General, giving her a family background connected to the country’s legal and constitutional history, which has informed her long-standing focus on legal accountability and justice throughout her decades-long career in journalism and activism.
Other Founding Figures
Beyond Setalvad and Anand, the organization’s founding involved other prominent civil society figures, including human rights activist Father Cedric Prakash and advertising executive Alyque Padamsee, reflecting a broad coalition of professionals from journalism, religious institutions, law, and media coming together around a shared human rights mission in the wake of the Gujarat violence.
CJP’s Core Focus Areas
Since its founding, CJP has organized its work around what it describes as four pillars: minority rights, freedom of expression, criminal justice reform, and child rights and education. The organization has pursued legal interventions on behalf of victims of communal violence, worked on cases involving statelessness and citizenship disputes, and engaged in broader advocacy for constitutional values and institutional accountability in India, positioning itself as a long-term legal and civil society watchdog rather than a short-term crisis response group.
CJP’s Continued Work Today
More than two decades after its founding, CJP continues to operate as a human rights organization focused on legal advocacy, education, and institutional reform, addressing issues including hate speech, minority rights, and criminal justice system reforms. The organization has remained a subject of public and political attention throughout its history, given the sensitive and often contested nature of the human rights and communal justice
Learn how Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand founded Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) in 2002 in response to the Gujarat riots, and the organization’s ongoing human rights work.
issues it addresses.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was CJP founded? Citizens for Justice and Peace was founded on April 1, 2002. Who founded CJP? The organization was founded by Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand, along with other civil society figures including Father Cedric Prakash. Why was CJP founded? It was established as a direct response to the 2002 Gujarat riots, with a focus on pursuing legal accountability and defending constitutional rights.
The Bottom Line
CJP’s founding reflects a moment when a group of journalists, activists, and legal professionals came together in response to a specific crisis and built an organization intended to outlast that initial moment. More than two decades later, the organization continues to operate within India’s broader human rights and civil society landscape, remaining a subject of both support and controversy given the sensitive nature of the issues it addresses.