Nanavati panel’s status report placed before Gujarat high court

A status report on the proceedings of the Nanavati commission probing the communal riots of 2002 was submitted in sealed cover on Friday before a division bench of the Gujarat high court.

The sealed cover was handed over to the division bench of chief justice SJ Mukhopadhaya and justice Akil Kureshi by the government pleader Prakash Jani. The bench then adjourned the case to June 30.

The state government filed the status report as directed by the high court bench on June 17. The bench had given the state government a week's time after the government pleader sought more time to file a status report.

The Gujarat high court is hearing a petition filed by Mukul Sinha of the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), the NGO that has been representing some victims of the riots in the case. In his submission before the high court, Sinha had stated that the state government itself had empowered the commission to summon the chief minister and other ministers, if required.

He had pleaded that the Nanavati commission summon chief minister Narendra Modi and the then ministers, Ashok Bhatt and Gordhan Zadafia, for questioning in connection with their alleged role in the riots.

Modi has already been questioned in connection with the 2002 riots by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). Last week, the state government extended the term of the commission comprising retired justices GT Nanavati and Akshay Mehta, till December 31.