Ahmedabad:
In an election year, some relief for Narendra Modi. The Gujarat High Court has rejected a petition seeking that the Nanavati Commission investigating 2002 Gujarat riots cases be asked to summon the Chief Minister for questioning.
Ruling on the petition filed by the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), an NGO representing riot victims, the court held today that it was up to the commission whether it wished to summon a person or not. The Nanavati Commission had earlier rejected a similar petition from the NGO to summon Mr Modi. The NGO has said it will move the Supreme Court against today's High Court order.
The BJP is sedate in its reaction. It will merely say for now that it expected this and so its stand has been vindicated. The party can ill-afford to have the ghosts of the 2002 Gujarat riots come back to haunt in a year when it fights some crucial assembly elections - right now in Uttar Pradesh and later this year in Mr Modi's Gujarat.
The 2002 Gujarat riots remain the one blot on the career of the BJP's star Chief Minister who has his eyes set firmly on winning Gujarat yet again this year and then on turning his attention to the national stage for the 2014 General Elections. The BJP's Balbir Punj said today that all efforts to "sully Mr Modi's political image and take away attention from his good governance" were coming to naught.
The Gujarat government, as indeed the BJP, say they have maintained right through that their ministers and CM shall depose before any panel that calls them for questioning. But also that it is not the right of a third party, like the NGO in this case, to demand that they be summoned by a commission. The state government said in the High Court that the NGO's appeal was not maintainable under law as the Commission's Act does not allow any third party to make a demand for the questioning of any person.
The Jan Sangarsh Manch had contended in court that there are many questions related to the riots that can be answered only by Mr Modi. The NGO had approached the High Court after the Nanavati Commission rejected its plea to summon Mr Modi for cross-examination.
The Nanavati Commission, set up in 2002, had finished the first part of its inquiry in September 2008, saying that there was a "pre-planned conspiracy" that led to the Sabarmati Express being set on fire in Godhra in February, 2002. Fifty-nine people had died in the incident and it sparked communal violence across Gujarat that left 1200 people dead. The Nanavati Commission had said that there was no evidence to prove Mr Modi's involvement. In September 2009, it ruled that there was no need to summon Mr Modi to explain his role in the riots.
The Jan Sangarsh Manch had then challenged this decision in the Gujarat High Court; the court had in 2010 asked the commission to explain whether it could summon Mr Modi as it continued its investigation. The commission had said in August 2010 that the material placed before it was not enough to summon Mr Modi. But it also did not rule out summoning the Gujarat Chief Minister later if new material was placed before it that required him to be questioned.
The Jan Sangarsh Manch has already cross-examined nearly 60 witnesses before the Nanavati Commission.
In 2010, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court to look into 2002 riots cases had questioned Mr Modi for over 10 hours on the petition filed by Zakiya Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri who was among 70 people killed by rioters at Ahmedabad's Gulbarg society.
Ruling on the petition filed by the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), an NGO representing riot victims, the court held today that it was up to the commission whether it wished to summon a person or not. The Nanavati Commission had earlier rejected a similar petition from the NGO to summon Mr Modi. The NGO has said it will move the Supreme Court against today's High Court order.
The BJP is sedate in its reaction. It will merely say for now that it expected this and so its stand has been vindicated. The party can ill-afford to have the ghosts of the 2002 Gujarat riots come back to haunt in a year when it fights some crucial assembly elections - right now in Uttar Pradesh and later this year in Mr Modi's Gujarat.
The 2002 Gujarat riots remain the one blot on the career of the BJP's star Chief Minister who has his eyes set firmly on winning Gujarat yet again this year and then on turning his attention to the national stage for the 2014 General Elections. The BJP's Balbir Punj said today that all efforts to "sully Mr Modi's political image and take away attention from his good governance" were coming to naught.
The Gujarat government, as indeed the BJP, say they have maintained right through that their ministers and CM shall depose before any panel that calls them for questioning. But also that it is not the right of a third party, like the NGO in this case, to demand that they be summoned by a commission. The state government said in the High Court that the NGO's appeal was not maintainable under law as the Commission's Act does not allow any third party to make a demand for the questioning of any person.
The Jan Sangarsh Manch had contended in court that there are many questions related to the riots that can be answered only by Mr Modi. The NGO had approached the High Court after the Nanavati Commission rejected its plea to summon Mr Modi for cross-examination.
The Nanavati Commission, set up in 2002, had finished the first part of its inquiry in September 2008, saying that there was a "pre-planned conspiracy" that led to the Sabarmati Express being set on fire in Godhra in February, 2002. Fifty-nine people had died in the incident and it sparked communal violence across Gujarat that left 1200 people dead. The Nanavati Commission had said that there was no evidence to prove Mr Modi's involvement. In September 2009, it ruled that there was no need to summon Mr Modi to explain his role in the riots.
The Jan Sangarsh Manch had then challenged this decision in the Gujarat High Court; the court had in 2010 asked the commission to explain whether it could summon Mr Modi as it continued its investigation. The commission had said in August 2010 that the material placed before it was not enough to summon Mr Modi. But it also did not rule out summoning the Gujarat Chief Minister later if new material was placed before it that required him to be questioned.
The Jan Sangarsh Manch has already cross-examined nearly 60 witnesses before the Nanavati Commission.
In 2010, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court to look into 2002 riots cases had questioned Mr Modi for over 10 hours on the petition filed by Zakiya Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri who was among 70 people killed by rioters at Ahmedabad's Gulbarg society.
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