By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) on Wednesday vehemently argued before the Nanavati-Mehta commission praying that Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers in 2002 be summoned for cross examination in heinous communal riots cases of 2002.
The commission was hearing a petition of the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) represented by Advocate Mukul Sinha. The commission, however, fixed June 22 as the next date of hearing on request from government advocate T T Nanavati. Nanavati submitted that the state government wanted Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, currently on foreign trip, to plead in the matter.
The commission, set up in March 2002 under the Commission of Inquiry Act, is probing into the causes of tragic incident of burning down of a coach of Sabarmati Express train at Godhra on February 27, 2002 and post-Godhra communal riots in which 1180 persons (official figures), mostly Muslims, were killed and thousands of others injured, displaced and properties worth rupees thousands of crores destroyed.
In his submissions before the commission, Sinha pointed out that the commission was empowered to summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi, his former ministers and senior IAS and IPS officers to probe their role and conduct in 2002 communal riots as per the terms of reference of the commission.
In his written submissions, Sinha contended that the scope of terms of reference of the commission was enlarged on July 20, 2004, following demands for inquiry into the role and conduct of chief minister and his ministers in public interest.
Pointing out that it would defeat the very purpose of the amendment of the terms of reference of the commission if Modi and his ministers, particularly the then minister of state for home Gordhan Zadaphia and the then Health Minister Ashok Bhatt (now assembly speaker), were not summoned for cross examination.
“In view of the specific terms of reference, it is mandatory as well as obligatory on the part of the Commission to summon Modi and his ministers. Any conclusion drawn on the role and conduct of the Chief Minister and other ministers without examining them would be without any material basis’’, Sinha submitted before the commission.
Stating that there was prima facie evidence about involvement of Modi and his ministers in the riots, Sinha pointed out that the hasty manner in which the autopsy of the dead bodies of the Sabarmati train passengers was allowed to be done by the state government in the railway yard raises serious doubts about the post-mortem of the dead bodies.
Sinha specifically mentioned the role of Modi in handing over the dead bodies to a private person Jaydeep Patel, VHP office-bearer, who brought them to Ahmedabad and paraded them in streets of the city resulting into tension followed by large scale riots. Patel himself is an accused in Naroda Gam massacre case. He was arrested after Gujarat High Court cancelled his anticipatory bail in April last but was released on bail on May 19 along with former minister Maya Kodnani.
Besides, Sinha raised following points also during the course of arguments to justify his demand for summoning Modi and his ministers:
*Narendra Modi holding a meeting at his residence in the night of February 27, 2002, asking police not to take action against Hindu reaction to train burning incident raises doubts about his intentions to protect Muslims.
*Transfer of investigation into the train incident from IGP Deepak Swaroop to a junior officer Vipul Vijoy.
*What did Modi do when DGP raise apprehensions about violence against minorities during the bandh call given by VHP and supported by BJP?
*There was complete failure of administration resulting into large scale violence against minorities in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Panchmahals and Kheda districts.
*Modi also refused to give sanction for prosecution of newspapers spewing venom against minorities, provoking and instigating Hindus to attack Muslims.
*Modi also called train burning incident as “pre-planned terrorist attack by one community against another’’ without evidence soon after the incident. However, Central POTA Review Committee and Gujarat high court subsequently held that there was no conspiracy. Even Supreme Court also held the decisions of CPRC and high court.
*Sinha pointed out that investigations into post-Godhra incidents of violence were sabotaged by the state government and acquittal of all the accused by Baroda fast track court in the Best Bakery case was the best example. The degree of interference was so grave that the Supreme Court had to set up a SIT (special investigation team) to carry out further investigation and in two cases, investigations led to arrest of Modi’s minister Maya Kodnani and VHP leader Jaydeep Patel. Admittedly, the government led by Modi had taken no action to carry out proper investigation of such serious cases despite the reports of NHRC (national human rights commission) specifically pointing out the sabotaging of investigation. This failure of the Government to give justice to the victims and at the same time protect the criminals, by itself, is sufficient to require the probe into the conduct of the Chief Minister in protecting and giving justice to the victims.
*No action was taken against any police officer while unchecked violence took place in their jurisdictions killing hundreds of Muslims.
*Why were police officers who were able to check violence like Rahul Sharma of Bhavnagar transferred in the midst of riots?
*Why did government refuse to take action against its own minister Bharat Barot who had personally instigated a mob outside the Delhi Darwaza on April 15, 2002, despite the fact that the Commissioner of Police P.C. Pande had by his own letter requested the Director General to take action against the minister, clearly establishes that the Government was protecting the leaders of its party who were holding high posts and giving them a free hand to attack the minority. This fact gets further established by the subsequent arrests of Mayaben Kodnani and Jaydeep Patel only because of the Supreme Court’s intervention. The flip side of the episode also exposes the helplessness of the police commissioner who despite having personal knowledge had no powers to arrest the culprit without the permission of the Government.
*So far as Gordhan Zadafiya is concerned, his phone records reveal that he was in constant touch with the accused of the Naroda Patiya case as well as the Naroda Gam case, namely with Bipin Panchal, Jaydeep Patel etc. which raises serious questions about his involvement with the two heinous offences
* Quite apart from the question regarding the involvement and role of Chief Minister, Minister of Sate for Home Gordhan Zadaphia and Minister of Health Ashok Bhatt in respect of the commission of any criminal offence, their complete failure to protect the life and property of the minorities during the period between February 27 to May 31, 2002 which they were bound to do being the constitutionally elected ministers of the State of Gujarat, make them squarely guilty of dereliction of constitutional duties and of negligence. Their failure is deliberate and if proper action was taken at the right time, the violence could certainly be contained, if not avoided wholly. From this point of view also, the examination of the persons named in the application are absolutely necessary.