Left warns Modi on Godhra POTA cases

The CPI(M) has trained its guns on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his refusal to withdraw terrorism charges against the accused in the Godhra train burning case.

The CPI(M) has also warned the United Progressive Alliance government that it owed its victory in the Lok Sabha polls to the "determined efforts" of those who kept communal forces at bay and hence the party couldn't afford to be a silent spectator to Modi's "flagrant" flouting of the law.

The editorial of the party mouthpiece, People's Democracy, to be published on June 19, notes that Modi's decision not to withdraw the charges against the accused, "violates with impunity the guidelines set by both the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court."

The editorial argues that after the report of the POTA central review committee ruled that the attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station was not a terrorist conspiracy, the accused should have been discharged of POTA charges and been proceeded against under existing laws like the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Criminal Procedural Code (CrPC).

Despite the Gujarat High Court ruling that the public prosecutor was bound to file an application seeking the withdrawal of the cases under POTA, the Modi government failed to do so, the editorial says.

It elaborates that the high court had cited the Supreme Court case of MDMK MP Vaiko, who has been detained under POTA in Tamil Nadu and then subsequently acquitted, in support of its judgement.

"By refusing to implement this established law of the land, the Modi government seems to have decided to once again confront directly the law in particular, and, India's secular democratic republican character in general," the article says.

To the UPA government, the CPI(M)'s message is clear: Do not be a silent spectator. It asks the UPA government constitute a special court, which would mean shifting the present court away from Sabarmati or transfer the POTA cases to another judge or change the public prosecutor.

It also asks the Government to immediately hand over the cases of communal attacks, in the aftermath of the train burning incident, to the CBI for 'speedy investigation.'