Gujarat govt to table Godhra riots report in Assembly

The Gujarat government will table the final report of Nanavati-Mehta Commission, which probed the 2002 post-Godhra riots, during the ensuing budget session of the state Assembly.

The announcement was submitted by advocate general Kamal Trivedi in response to a PIL, filed by former director general of police R B Sreekumar, that called for the report be made public.

The one-page reply stated, ”Part-I of the report of justices Nanavati-Mehta Commission has already been tabled on 25/09/2009 in the Legislative Assembly and it has already been decided to table Part-II of the said report in the ensuing Budget session of the Legislative Assembly.”

Sreekumar in the PIL stated that under the provision of the Commission of Inquiry Act, the report has to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly.

The PIL says, “Huge public money is utilized for this commission and therefore a citizen has legal right to peruse the report. The findings of the Commissioner’s report would unearth the hidden facts if any and its recommendations can be fruitfully implemented.”

After state government’s assurance that the report will be tabled, the high court disposed of the petition.

Part-I of the report is based on the burning of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra railway station on February 27, 2002, in which 57 karsevaks returning from Ayodhya (in Uttar Pradesh) were burnt alive.

A day later, widespread riots broke out in various parts of the state in which over 1,000 Muslims were killed.

In this report, the commission gave a clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi while holding that there was no evidence to show that he or his ministers or police officers had any role.

Part-two of the report is based on the subsequent riots.

On March 6, 2002, the state government had appointed the one-member commission of retired high court justice K G Shah. The commission took a record 12 years to submit its report to the state government.