New Delhi, Oct 09: The Supreme Court today asked the the Gujarat government to respond within six weeks to a petition filed by noted danseuse Mallika Sarabhai alleging that compensation given to post-Godhra riot victims in the state was a pittance compared to that given to victims of Uphaar cinema fire mishap or to the Bhopal gas leak tragedy. A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice S B Sinha and Justice A R Lakshmanan asked the state government to respond to the allegations over inadequate compensation within six weeks and posted the matter after eight weeks.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Indira Jaising levelled several serious allegations relating to the conduct of prosecution in the trial of several riot cases and requested the court to direct the state to file a status report as to why influential persons, who were ministers in the state, were not named in any of the firs despite eyewitness accounts to that effect.
Opening an altogether new issue, she said that the two-member commission probing the riots headed by retired Supreme Court judge G T Nanavati should have a member from the minority community as both the members were from the majority community.
She said though she was not imputing any bias to the present members, "justice should not only be done, it should appear to be done".
This was objected to by the court as well as the Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohtagi. Stopping Jaising from proceeding any further in this aspect, the Bench said "you are going too far. Let's stop here." Bureau Report