Clarify stand on summoning Modi, court asks panel

GANDHINAGAR - A division bench of the Gujarat High Court Monday directed the Nanavati-Mehta commission probing the 2002 communal riots to clarify by April 1 whether its decision not to summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others was tentative or final.

The direction by the bench, headed by Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay, came on a plea of the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), which has been representing the 2002 riot victims before the judicial panel. The Nanavati-Mehta panel in September last year turned down the plea for summoning Modi, other ministers and officers for deposing before it. The panel had instead ordered Modi’s three personal assistants, Om Prakash Singh, Sanjay Bhavsar and Tanmay Mehta to file affidavits.

The JSM had advanced the plea that the application for their cross-examination was made only after the state government in July 2004 expanded the terms of reference of the commission to include the offices of the chief minister, his council of ministers and senior bureaucrats and police officers to enquire into their “roles” in the communal riots.

The commission, however, in its order ruled that the arguments put forth by the JSM did not justify Modi’s summoning as these fell short of proving any direct or indirect involvement of the chief minister or his dereliction of duty.