Court issues notice to Gujarat govt, SIT in Naroda Patiya case

The designated court hearing the Naroda Patiya riots case on Monday issued notices to the state government and the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT).

The court issued the notice while hearing a petition filed by the riot victims and a civil right organisation, seeking direction to the SIT that it submit a report on the investigation it had done so far.

Salim Shaikh, a victim of the Naroda Gam riots, and Amrish Patel, convener of the civil rights organisation Jan Sangharsh Manch, had filed the petition earlier this month.

The petitioners had alleged that the SIT had been claiming since 2009 that it was investigating the riots case but it had not filed any report in court - neither a closure report nor a chargesheet. They had further stated in their application that the officials of the SIT as well the counsel representing the probe team had made a statement on oath before the court that the SIT's investigation was in progress and that they were looking into all aspects of the case.

Shaikh and Patel have stated that it was now two years since they made a representation to the SIT, but the agency had not submitted a report or chargesheet even after two years. The petitioners have prayed to the designated court to direct the SIT to submit a report or chargesheet in the case and also ask it to submit an action taken report before the court.

Earlier, the JSM had filed a petition seeking further investigation on the basis of phone call data for the riot period.

The organisation had sought that the SIT be directed to probe the role of police officials regarding their failure to control the riots and to find out if there was any connivance between them and the accused. It was in this backdrop that they had moved an application seeking an action taken report from the SIT.