CJP claims SIT report may have govt origin

Activist NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has reacted sharply to the report presented by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the Supreme Court, which claimed that the NGO, which is fighting for the cause of the 2002 riot victims, had exaggerated the extent of the violence.

The CJP on Tuesday said that the report may have originated from a note circulated by the advocate for the state government, which quoted claims made by some of the witnesses before the SIT.

“The fact is that neither Sri Raghavan, nor any other SIT member was present at the apex court to ‘tell’ anything. These reports could only be referring to a contention made in a four page note circulated by Ms Hemantika Wahi for the Gujarat Government. It was not a note prepared by SIT,” claimed Teesta Setalvad, who heads the CJP.

The NGO also pointed out that it was on the basis of facts and figures provided by it that the SIT was able to file 12 more FIRs, leading to the arrest of former minister of state for women development and child welfare, Maya Kodnani; deputy superintendent of police, KG Erda; and former VHP leader Jaideep Patel.

While SIT chairman RK Raghavan refused to comment, a source in the SIT said that during the course of the investigation, it had been found that some witnesses in several cases, especially the Gulbarg massacre case, had admitted to being tutored by Setalvad and that she had forced them to depose before the SIT as witnesses.

RB Sreekumar, retired director-general of police, whose case diaries exposed the role of the Gujarat government in the communal violence, has been critical of the SIT. He said that over the course of the lengthy investigation, the probe panel had not called him for questioning or read his affidavits, which could have cleared many doubts and placed facts before it.

“The SIT has not read any of my affidavits or else it would not have been shooting in the dark, trying to connect the facts of the incidents at Godhra and Naroda Patia,” he said. In his affidavit, he had mentioned that some senior officials of the home department had forced him to not submit any anti-government affidavit before the Nanavati commission, but the SIT had not taken note of this till now, he said.

The CJP said the report in sections of the national media dated April 14, alleging that NGOs and Setalvad had misled the Supreme Court and had exaggerated the extent of the violence in Gujarat in 2002, was an example of irresponsible reportage. The Supreme Court has also asked that designated courts be set up for trial of the accused in the post-Godhra riot cases in Gujarat.