New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday posted
for November 11 the final hearing on the petition by NGOs
seeking a curb on circulation of Nanavati Commission report
giving a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in
Godhra train carnage incident and subsequent riots in 2002.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan
passed the order to this effect after Gujarat government
opposed the submission by the NGOs for an interim order.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said the NGOs want that
the report of Justice Mukherjee Committee, which was set up by
the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, should be placed before
Parliament.
He said there cannot be such an inquiry under the
Railway Act.
However senior advocate Rajender Sachar, appearing for
the NGOs, questioned the circulation of Nanavati Commission
report.
The NGOs -- Citizen for Justice and Peace (CJP) and
People`s Union of Civil Liberty (PUCL), questioned the
submission of the report in parts.
The first part of Nanavati Commission report, which was
placed before Gujarat assembly on September 25, 2008, had said
the fire in Sabarmati Express coach in Godhra was a conspiracy
and not an accident.
Repeatedly making it clear to the NGOs that law did not
prohibit the submission of an interim report or a report
in part, the apex court had during pervious hearings said that
"in given circumstance giving an interim report may have
become imperative".
The apex court, which had on September 26, 2008,
rejected the plea by the NGOs to stay the printing and
circulation of the report, once again posed the same question
to Sachar as to what was his apprehension if recommendations
of the Commission were implemented.
The NGOs had said millions of copies of the report
will be circulated and it would lead to communal disharmony in
the country and could influence the trial of the case.
The NGOs have contended that the publication of the
report by the Commission headed by Justice Nanavati, a retired
apex court judge, would provide a ground to the state
government to take a liberal stand against the accused in
the post-Godhra riots of 2002.
While seeking a stay on the circulation of the report,
the CJP, run by social activist Teesta Setalvad, had referred
to another report on the incident prepared by a committee
headed by Justice U C Banerjee, a retired Supreme Court judge.
The Justice Banerjee Committee had concluded that the
burning of S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express at Godhra was purely
an accident.
However, after the report was leaked, the Gujarat
High Court had stayed the Banerjee Committee report.
Sachar said since the Banerjee Committee report has been
stayed, the apex court should maintain parity and pass an
order to restrain the circulation and printing of Justice
Nanavati Committee report also.
This submission was opposed by Gujarat government which
had said the High Court has later quashed the constitution of
the Committee to probe the incident and as such it has no
legal sanctity.
The first part of Nanavati Commission report, which
was placed before Gujarat assembly on September 25, 2008, said
the fire in the Sabarmati Express coach in Godhra was a
conspiracy and not an accident, contradicting the findings of
the Justice Banerjee Committee report.
The 168-page report of the Commission said the
conspiracy was hatched at Aman Guest house in Godhra.
"There is absolutely no evidence to show that either
the Chief Minister or any of the ministers in his council or
police officers had played any role in the Godhra incident,"
the report had said.
Bureau Report
