AHMEDABAD: Retired Supreme Court Judge Girish Thakorlal Nanavati, who headed two inquiry commissions — 2002 Godhra riots and anti-Sikh riots — breathed his last at his residence in Ahmedabad on Saturday. His family said he suffered a massive heart attack at around 1:30 pm.
Born on February 17, 1935, Nanavati was enrolled as an advocate in the Bombay High Court on February 11, 1958. He was appointed as the judge of Gujarat High Court in 1979 and was transferred to the Orissa High Court in 1993. He was the Chief Justice of Orissa High Court in January 1994 and was transferred as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court in September 1994. He was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1995.
He retired from the apex court in 2000. After retirement, he headed a commission to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. Later, he became part of a commission appointed by the then Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, to probe the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
Nanavati submitted his final report on the 2002 riots to the state government in 2014, which was tabled in the Gujarat state assembly in December 2019. The report gave a “clean chit” to Modi. Justices Nanavati and Akshay Mehta had in 2014 submitted their final report on the 2002 riots to the then Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel.
The commission was appointed in 2002 by Narendra Modi to probe the riots. Nanavati was appointed by the NDA government to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He was the sole member of the Nanavati commission.