Left sees holes in Nanavati panel report

The Left parties today heaped blame on the Justice Nanavati Commission Report for "failing to do justice" to the terms of reference assigned to the commission, but let the government off the hook for excusing Non-Resident Affairs Minister Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Officially, however, the CPI(M) and the CPI criticised the government's action-taken report and demanded that the government act on the recommendations and proceed against those named in the report.

"The CPI(M) demands that the government act on the specific recommendations made by the Nanavati Commission to proceed against certain persons named and to probe the involvement of others whose culpability has been indicated by the panel," a CPI(M) said.

"Wherever and against whomsoever the commission speaks of 'credible evidence', prosecution should be launched," the CPI said. However, CPI leaders admitted that the words "very probably" in the report did weaken the case against Tytler, in spite of the "credible evidence" that proved his involvement in organising attacks on Sikhs.

CPI(M) spokesperson Nilotpal Basu also said his party would not ask for the removal of Tytler on the basis of Nanavati Commission's recommendations.

The commission had "failed to fix responsibility for the failure to check the violence and pinpoint responsibility for the serious crimes, the CPI(M) statement said.

"After 21 years and 9 commissions and enquiry committees, it is a dismal state of affairs that justice cannot be rendered to the thousands who suffered in the pogroms," it added.

Describing the report as "thoroughly disappointing", the CPI said it did not, in any way, assure justice to the victims of the 1984 riots. "Though the commission's report is self-contradictory in its conclusions, it does name and speak about the involvement of several congress leaders in the events".

The CPI said the panel had indicted the role of several police officers "thereby exposing the partisan and communal tendencies that have got ingrained in a section of our police force". Maintaining that it was not enough to say these officers have now retired, it said "retirement does not absolve any person from the crime of dereliction of duty".

The government, the CPI said, should draw proper lessons and "initiate the process for revamping the police force so that its credibility is restored".

Basu said "we thoroughly decry the fact that even after 21 years and nine commissions, India has been unable to deliver justice to the victims and not been able to bring the culprits to book".

The other aspect, he said was that the Nanavati Commission has "done an inept job. If you look at some of the recommendations and findings, they have even gone back on some of the positive findings pronounced by earlier panels".

Basu said despite the "ineptitude the Nanavati commission has displayed, the government has failed to implement its recommendations".

Observing that the CPI(M) had asked the government to implement the report, he said "we are urging the government to take strong steps because this is a question of re-establishing the spirit of the national common minimum programme that it believes in probity and transparency in public life and integrity of governance".

He parried a question on whether they would support a demand for the resignation of Tytler following the report saying "we thoroughly disagree with the analysis of a section of the media that by individualising the whole issue of imparting justice, we are doing a great service to the victims. There is a human dimension which they (a section of the media) tend to overlook".