Ahmedabad, Sep.19 (ANI): In a major reprieve for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Justice Girish Thakorlal Nanavati Commission on Saturday confirmed that it would not be issuing any notice to him in connection with the communal riots in Veraval.
However, the commission has asked the State Government to give it transcripts of the conversations that took place prior to the riots, during the riots and in its aftermath.
The commission has so far given a clean chit to Modi in the post-Godhra events. The Nanavati Commission said there was no evidence to show there was lapse in Modi’s or his ministers’ role in providing protection, relief and rehabilitation to the victims of communal riots or in the matter of not complying with the recommendations and direction given by the National Human Rights Commission.
Communal attacks on Muslims took place in Gujarat between February and May 2002.
The riots occurred after the burning of the Sabarmati Express. According to official figures tabled in the parliament, more than a thousand people were killed (790 Muslims and 254 Hindus) in the violence after the train incident. More than two hundred and fifty thousand people were displaced (about 200,000 Muslims and 40,000 Hindus).
Organizations such as Human Rights Watch criticized the Indian government for failure to address the resulting humanitarian condition of people, “overwhelming majority of them Muslim,” who fled their homes for relief camps in the aftermath of the events.
Many of the investigations and prosecution of those accused of violence during the riots have been opened for reinvestigation and prosecution. According to an official estimate, 1044 people were killed in the violence, including those killed in the Godhra train fire. Another 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed and 606 children orphaned. About 100,000 Muslims and 40,000 Hindus were in relief camps. (ANI)
I will react only after court’s judgement: Tytler
New Delhi, Apr 9 (ANI): Former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler, who will appear in the Kakardooma Court today in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, said that he will give his reaction on the issue after the court takes notice of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report.
Tytler, who had recently been given a clean chit by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said on Thursday, “I will react only after the court’s judgement.”
However, he failed to give any comment on the possibility of participating in the election from North-East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, where he has been named as a candidate.
Meanwhile, the Congress party sources clarified that no decision has been taken on his candidature so far.
The court may decide on accepting the CBI closure report against Tytler and ordering the quashing of charges against him or order fresh investigation into the case.
On April 7, the Congress indicated a possibility of reviewing its decision to contest Tytler following a shoe-throwing incident in All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarter in Delhi.
A Sikh journalist of the Dainik Jagran newspaper threw a shoe at Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a press conference at the Congress headquarters to protest against “clean chit” to Tytler.
The CBI, on April 2, had recommended quashing of FIR against Tytler as it did not have sufficient evidence to proceed on the matter. On March 28, the CBI filed the report in a sealed envelope before Metropolitan Magistrate Ram Lal Meena.
Tytler was among the three prominent leaders named in the reports on anti-Sikh riots. Two other leaders named were Sajjan Kumar and the late HKL Bhagat.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which claimed the lives of almost 3000 Sikhs, were triggered by the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards. (ANI)