NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has on Monday asked the Nanavati Commission and the Gujarat Government to convey their respective stands for directions to the commission to summon state’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi for questioning in connection with the 2002 riots.
A Bench, comprising Justice D K Jain and Justice A K Dave, in the process, issued notices to the commission and the state of Gujarat asking them to file their respective responses within four weeks. An NGO, Jan Sangarsh Manch, has filed the petition seeking directions to the commission to summon Modi for questioning him after its petition was dismissed by the Gujarat High Court.
Senior counsel Collin Gonsalves and Shreeji Bhavsar, appearing for the NGO, told the Bench that Modi should be summoned by the commission as the role of the CM falls within the ambit of the probe panel’s inquiry. The Nanavati Commission was constituted in the light of the 2002 post-Godhra riots. In 2004, the terms of reference of the commission were expanded to include in its purview an examination of the CM’s role in the riots. In September 2009, the commission rejected the plea of the JSM to summon Modi and five others to cross-examine them with regard to the carnage, in which over 1,000 people are feared killed. The SIT appointed by the apex court had earlier questioned Modi on the 2002 riots for over 10 hours last year.