PM promises action against guilty

Criminal cases against the accused on the cards: Patil

Soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured the Lok Sabha that the government would consider re-examining individual cases mentioned in the Nanavati Commission report, wherever reopening the cases was needed, Minister of State for NRI Affairs Jagdish Tytler resigned from the council of ministers.

Tytler met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and submitted his resignation requesting her to forward it to the Prime Minister.

Intervening in an adjournment motion, moved by SS Dhindsa (Akali Dal) on the Nanavati Commission report and the government's action-taken report, Singh said the government would consult the law ministry to bring the guilty to book.

Referring to the fact that not a singe person was convicted in these cases, he said the "government cannot act if the commission itself is not sure of guilt", He, however, assured the House that "sentiments expressed on the floor of the House will be respected".

Acknowledging that "there is something called perceptions and sentiments", the Prime Minister said he was bowing to the sentiments expressed on the floor of the House.

"Wherever the commission has named any specific individual as needing further examination, or specific cases needing further investigation, such cases will be taken up within the ambit of the law," he said referring indirectly to Tytler, against whom the commission had found "credible evidence".

The Prime Minister, however, defended the Congress and said eight previous commissions and the Nanavati commission itself had "nailed the lie" that the Congress or then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were involved in instigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots or even organising them.

"The Nanavati panel was not appointed by our government. We had no choice in who would head it. This report has nailed the lie of all the whisper campaign that had been carried out against the Congress," the Prime Minister said.

Referring to his own Sikh heritage, the Prime Minister pleaded that Punjab, a sensitive border state, should not be dragged into a communal tangle.

"I appeal to one and all not to view this through partisan spectacles, but as a human tragedy, which was preceded by another tragedy, the murder of Indira Gandhi," he said.

He referred to the 1980s as a "dark decade" for Punjab when many Sikhs were seen as "terrorists". "I too faced problems at that time. If we do not learn to put these things behind us, we may soon face another problem," he said.

"Do not say things, which will drive a wedge between the Sikhs and the mainstream of the country, " the Prime Minister said.

Earlier, Leader of Opposition in teh Lok Sabha LK Advani had demanded that since the Nanavati Commission had described the 1984 killings as an "organised carnage" the "country would like to know who organised the carnage".

Advani said PG Gavai, who was lt governor of Delhi, had said in his statement to the commission that he would have been able to control the rioters if political masters had not prevented him from doing so by asking him to resign.

In his speech, the Prime Minister stressed there had to be "collective" efforts to ensure that "tragedies like in Delhi or in Gujarat never take place".

Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who was repeatedly interrupted by the Opposition during his intervention, said the government would implement the commission's recommendations wherever possible.

Patil said out of the 10 recommendations, the government had agreed to take action on nine and was ready to implement all the suggestions. After the Prime Minister's statement, there should not be any doubt in the minds of the Opposition members about the government's intentions, he added.

Patil said the Prime Minister could not have been clearer in his commitment to the House that the cases in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots would be reexamined wherever required. As the cases were criminal in nature, and a minister against whom a criminal investigation was pending could not remain a minister.

Referring to suggestion for police raforms, he said the government was already on the job and so far as compensation was concerned, whatever amount necessary, would begiven. On the issue of conviction, he said guilty would not be given protection.