#1. (Express India, September 19, 2008)
Ahmedabad, September 18 Nanavati panel submits first part of report; second part to be submitted by December 31
Six years after it was instituted and 12 extensions later, the Justice (retd) G T Nanvati-Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta Commission of Inquiry probing the Godhra and post-Godhra riots submitted the first part of its report to Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Justice G T Nanavati said, "We have submitted the first part of the report. It is based on the Godhra train burning incident and the events that took place on February 27, 2002."
The report submitted deals with the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express coming from Delhi at the outer signal of the Godhra railway station. A total of 59 people had died in the incident, most of whom were Kar Sevaks.
With the government not making the report public yet, the contents of the report remain confidential. The judges too refused to speak about the subject.
Nanavati said, "Our job was to submit the report to the government and we have done it. Now it is up to them to decide how and when to make it public. I see no reason why they should not make it public."
Both the judges refused to divulge anything in the report and steadfastly maintained that it would be a 'breach of trust' and would go against the grain of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
The government is expected to table the report in the Legislative Assembly during the monsoon session that begins on September 25.
The first part of the report goes into the crucial question about the turn of incidents that led to the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express. The report would contain the answer to the question whether the incident was a spontaneous reaction of an unruly mob, as contended by various civil rights organisations, or was a part of a 'well planned conspiracy', the version on which the government's case is based.
The second part of the report, which deals with the facts and circumstances that led to the post-Godhra riots, is expected to be submitted before December 31, when the 12th extension given to the commission expires.
"The work on the second part is progressing well and we expect it to be over by December," said Nanavati.
How the Commission was constituted
After the post-Godhra riots, the Gujarat government had set up a Commission of Inquiry headed by retired High Court judge K G Shah in March 2002. Later, former Supreme Court judge G T Nanvati, who was also a member of the inquiry commission set up after the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, was included .
After Justice K G Shah's death, former Gujarat High Court judge Akshay Mehta was appointed on April 7, 2008 as a member of the Commission. Justice Mehta's appointment stirred up a controversy, as his name had figured in the Tehelka tapes where Babu Bajrangi, one of the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre, was seen saying that he had been granted bail by Justice Mehta "without even looking at the file".
Jan Sangharsh Manch, a civil rights organisation and one of the five parties appearing regularly before the Commission, boycotted it after Justice Mehta's appointment.
Terms of reference
The initial terms of reference of the Commission had restricted the probe to the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express and the ‘incidents of violence that broke out all over Gujarat following the train carnage’.
A third term of reference was added on July 20, 2004 that provided for the probing of the "role and conduct of the ministers including the chief minister, government and police officials, social and political organisations during the riots — relating to the facts, circumstances and course of events of the subsequent incidents — in the aftermath of the Godhra incident."
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#2.
The Hindu, 19 September 2008
First part of Godhra report submitted
Special Correspondent
May be tabled in Assembly next week
Justices Nanavati and Mehta hand over report to Modi
The commission was set up in March 2002
GANDHINAGAR: The Nanavati Commission, probing the Godhra train carnage and subsequent riots in Gujarat, submitted the first part of its report to Chief Minister Narendra Modi here on Thursday.
Commission members Justice G.T. Nanavati and Justice Akshay Mehta handed over the report to him, in the presence of Minister of State for Home Amit Shah.
Contents not known
The contents of the commission’s recommendations were not immediately known. Government sources said the report was likely to be tabled in the Assembly during a three-day session beginning on September 25.
The government appointed a one-man commission constituted by the retired Gujarat High Court judge, K.G. Shah, in March 2002, to probe the Godhra train carnage in February 2002 and the communal riots that followed.
Following objections from many sections, particularly human rights activists, the retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Nanavati, was appointed to head the commission.
Sources in the commission said more than 44,000 affidavits were filed and during the six years of its tenure so far, extended by the government several times, it examined over 1,000 witnesses.
Boycott
Following the death of Justice Shah earlier this year, Justice Mehta, also a retired judge of the High Court, was appointed in his place in April.
The Jansangharsha Manch, representing riot victims before the commission, however, decided to boycott its proceedings.
The Manch advocate, Mukul Sinha, claimed that Justice Mehta was “too close” to Mr. Modi to expect impartiality from the commission in its reports.
Under criticism
On the submission of the first part of the report, Dr. Sinha expressed surprise at the “speed and energy” with which the commission completed the investigation on the train carnage.
Questioning the “urgency” of submitting the report as six years had already passed, he said if the Nanavati Commission should have waited for the report on the train carnage by the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court.
The apex court recently extended the time limit of the SIT till December this year.He also expressed apprehension over the advisability of bifurcating the commission’s report into two, one on the train carnage and the other on post-Godhra riots.
Such piecemeal efforts would not ensure justice for the riot victims, Dr. Sinha said.
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#3.
Do not table part Nanavati panel report, pleads PIL; HC says no
Express News Service
Posted online: Sep 24, 2008 at 0226 hrs
Ahmedabad, September 23 Petitioner had sought quashing of part report, saying the panel should have filed a complete report
A division bench of the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dismissed a joint Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to quash the part report of the Nanavati Commission.
The bench comprising Chief Justice K S Radhkrishnan and Justice M S Shah observed that Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act did not prevent the Commission from preparing a part report, nor did it say whether a part report could not be filed in the state Assembly.
The PIL was filed by the Citizens for Justice and Peace and the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties and had also sought directions ordering the government not to table the part report in the Assembly during the Monsoon session starting September 25.
Representing the petitioners, advocate M M Tirmizi contended that the Commission was set up to probe the Godhra and the post-Godhra riots and hence could not split the inquiry into two parts. He pleaded that it should be a composite report of the complete inquiry.
He said the first part of the report dealt with the Godhra incident and did not reflect
on the role of the Chief Minister, other ministers and governmental officials in the ensuing riots.
“So, a composite report should be submitted to the state government and tabled in the Assembly after complete inquiry of the Godhra and post-Godhra incidents,” he added.
Referring to two Supreme Court judgements, Tirmizi further said: “It is an exercise by the state government for placing the part report of the inquiry of Godhra and the post-Godhra incidents.”
He added that the prejudicial role of the state government had been exposed following the Supreme Court order of a re-trial of the Best Bakery and the Bilkis Bano cases outside Gujarat. The apex court had also directed the state government to appoint another public prosecutor in the two cases on the suggestions of the victims, he said. He also referred to affidavits filed by former Additional Director General of Police R B Sreekumar about the role of the state in the post-Godhra riots.
He said the terms of reference appointing the Commission to look into the Godhra and post-Godhra incidents be looked in toto. Tabling one part of the report and making it public was detrimental to the public interest and amounted to splitting the terms of reference into two, he added.
As such, the state government should be restrained from placing it in the House on September 25, he said.
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