Gujarat riots: Nanavati-Mehta Commission gives clean chit to Modi government
The Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government has been given a clean chit in the 2002 Gujarat riots by the Justice Nanavati-Mehta Commission. The Commission's final report was tabled by Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. The Commission was appointed in 2002 to probe the riots under then-Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Here are more details.
The final report was tabled five years after Retired Justices GT Nanavati and Akshay Mehta submitted it to the Anandiben Patel-led state government in 2014. According to NDTV, the Commission noted in its 1,500-page report that the post-Godhra riots were not organized, adding, "There's no evidence to show that these attacks were either inspired or instigated or abated by any minister of the state."
Although the report stated that the state administration took necessary steps to stop the riots, it held the police responsible. The police are accused of "not showing necessary competence and eagerness" to control the three-day violence. "Police at some places were ineffective in controlling the mob," the report said. It has also recommended an inquiry and action against the cops.
Modi had appointed the Commission in 2002 to probe the state-wide communal riots that followed after a train burning incident in Godhra. The first part of the Commission's report, submitted in 2008, had also given a clean chit to Modi in the train burning incident. However, it had held that the train fire was a "pre-planned conspiracy," hatched by a cleric, Maulana Umarji.
On February 27, 2002, at least 59 karsevaks of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were killed as the coaches S6 and S7 of the Sabarmati Express were set ablaze at Godhra. The train burning incident had within hours triggered violent communal riots across the state. Reportedly, over 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in ensuing riots, however, some claim the actual death toll was higher.
