)
The Nanavati panel, probing the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002, gave its final report on the matter on Tuesday, after 12 years of investigations. The panel is headed by retired Supreme Court judge G T Nanavati and has retired judge Akshay Mehta.
On Tuesday, Nanavati handed over the report of about 2,000 pages to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel at her residence in Gandhinagar. He said his work was over and it was up to the state government to make the findings of the report public. “I have submitted the report to the state government. They will study it and then decide on making it public,” he told reporters.
The state government can decide whether to make the report public before tabling it in the state Assembly.
In the report, the panel has stated its findings on the role played in the 2002 riots by the police, the government, political leaders and local administration. The panel probed about 4,000 cases of violence during the riots.
Asked if the report mentioned the role of Narendra Modi, Nanavati said: “No comment, please.” On various occasions, the Nanavati panel had said it did not have sufficient evidence to summon Modi for questioning.
Nanavati also declined to comment on the findings of the report, saying this was privileged information, which only the state government could divulge.
On the probe into the 2002 riots, Nanavati, who had also probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, said, “We are used to such inquiry and procedures.”
On May 8, 2000, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government tasked Nanavati with inquiring into certain matters related to the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other parts of the country on and after October 31, 1984, following the assassination of the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi. He had submitted a report on matter in February 2005.
On the delay in completion of the report on the 2002 riots, Nanavati said this was primarily due to refusal by the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) to give it access to investigation papers, as well as affidavits filed by suspended Indian Police Service officer Sanjeev Bhatt.
He lamented the fact that people did not come out to testify before the panel. “In India, this is a major hindrance in any inquiry,” Nanavati said, adding if a few influential persons whose testimony would have carried weight had come before the panel, it would have proved useful. He said reports about some incidents were exaggerated, which created a wrong impression of the riots on the minds of some.
The retired judge said the number of police personnel stationed to tackle the riots was low. “If there is fear that police will not allow one to go scot-free, only then can law and order be maintained. The presence of police does make a difference.”
On former president K R Narayanan’s letters to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the 2002 riots, Nanavati said if the Centre had given the panel access to those letters, it would have helped in the probe.
In February 2006, the United Progressive Alliance government had denied access to the correspondence between Narayanan and Vajpayee on the steps taken to control the 2002 Gujarat riots, claiming it was doing so in the interest of the public. The Nanavati panel the letters from the president’s secretariat be produced, after an advocate representing some of the riot-hit families claimed the letters might hold clues to the government’s “inaction” in controlling the riots.
The panel was set up by Modi on March 3, 2002, under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. The initial terms of reference of the panel, headed by K G Shah, was to probe a February 27, 2002, incident in which 59 persons, mostly Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers, were burnt alive by a mob near the Godhra railway station.
In June 2002, the state government widened the commission’s scope of inquiry to include the post-Godhra communal riots and appointed Nanavati as its chairman. After Shah’s death, the government appointed retired judge Akshay Mehta as a member of the panel.
About 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were allegedly killed during the widespread religious violence that followed the Godhra incident.
In June 2005, the state government further widened the commission’s scope to questioning political leaders and ministers, including Modi.
In September 2008, the panel gave a part of its findings pertaining to the Godhra train-burning incident. It said the incident of setting afire the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express near the Godhra railway station was a pre-planned conspiracy. A court convicted 31 persons for criminal conspiracy and murder in connection with the incident.
Through the past 12 years, the Nanavati panel has been given 24 extensions. It probed 4,145 cases related to communal violence, reported between February 27 and May 31, 2002. The commission hasn’t questioned Modi. The Supreme Court-appointed SIT has given a clean chit to Modi and other office bearers of his government in connection with the 2002 riots. A magisterial court has also upheld this exoneration.
