Godhra: Nanavati contradicts 5 earlier probes

 Hindustan Times , September 27,2008

5 probes, Nanavati panel the exceptionNagendar Sharma Hindustan Times

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New Delhi, September 27, 2008

First Published: 01:12 IST(27/9/2008)

Last Updated: 01:18 IST(27/9/2008)

The findings of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and top jurists — including four former Supreme Court judges — on the 2002 Godhra train burning incident and the riots that followed are the complete opposite of those of the Justice G.T. Nanavati Commission.

The Nanavati commission, in the first part of its report made public on Thursday, concluded that the fire in the Sabarmati Express was the result of a “pre-planned conspiracy”. It also absolved the Narendra Modi government of any wrongdoing in Godhra and in the riots. But these findings are strongly contradicted by the NHRC report on the riots as well as by a probe panel headed by former SC judge V.R. Krishna Iyer and assisted by Justices P.B. Sawant and four former high court judges.

The NHRC report, prepared after its then chairman and former CJI J.S. Verma visited riot-affected areas, slammed the Gujarat government for all-round failure in controlling the riots and in providing relief to victims. “A serious failure of intelligence and action by the government marked events leading to the Godhra tragedy and the subsequent deaths and destruction,” the April 2002 report said.

A nine-member team of the Concerned Citizens Tribunal, headed by Justice Iyer, concluded in its report that the Godhra incident was “spontaneous”. “The tribunal found no evidence that the train coach was set on fire from outside. It was sudden provocation on the Godhra station that led to a clash between Hindus and Muslims. The administration suppressed facts and spread falsehood,” Justice Iyer said. The report added: “The uniform pattern of violence in Gujarat the day after the Godhra incident showed the killings of Muslims were pre-planned.”

Former SC judge UC Banerjee, appointed by the Railway Ministry to probe the Godhra fire, concluded in 2006 that the incident was “not pre-planned”. Similar findings were reported by former Allahabad High Court judge S.C. Jain, who reviewed the cases registered under the now repealed Prevention of Corruption Act.   Read 

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 DNA 

Godhra: 2 commissions, 2 findings

Rajesh Sinha

Friday, September 26, 2008  04:03 IST

It couldn’t have been petrol fire: Banerjee

NEW DELHI: Much finger-pointing and exchange of accusations – on predictable lines – followed the tabling of the Nanavati commission report on Thursday.

Nanavati’s findings completely trashed an earlier report by justice UC Banerjee, who held himself from commenting.

Banerjee, heading a committee appointed by the railway ministry to inquire into the fire on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, in which 59 people died, had said in his report the fire was accidental and ruled out any conspiracy to kill the kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya on the train.

“I have not seen the report. How can I comment on it?” he said, defending his own findings saying had the fire been a result of an attack from outside, the over a 100 passenger who escaped could not have managed it.

Banerjee said he had examined a large number of witnesses, including an income-tax officer, who submitted they crawled on the floor to get out of the burning coach.
While 250 people escaped to safety, 58 were asphyxiated due to thick smoke. The sequence of the fire was different. “This sequence could never have been in a petrol fire,” he said.  ... more 

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Godhra fire was a conspiracy: Nanavati

Anil Pathak & Urvashi Dev Rawal

Thursday, September 25, 2008  17:35 IST

Commission’s report says no proof to show Modi didn’t try to control Gujarat riots.

AHMEDABAD: The Godhra train fire was a “pre-planned conspiracy”, not an accident, and neither did Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi have any role in the incident nor did he show any laxity in controlling the ensuing communal violence in the state.

With these findings, the Justice Nanavati commission, instituted to probe the 2002 Sabarmati Express fire and the riots that followed, has set the stage for another round of political confrontation over the issue. Already the Congress, its UPA allies and the Left have said they expected nothing else from a panel set up by the Modi government while the BJP declared the truth was finally out.  ...more  

TheWeek WEB SPECIAL   Thursday,25 September 2008 21:51 hrs IST My truth, your truth: A tale of two panels - Ahmedabad/New Delhi: Two probe panels set up by two governments have come out with two conflicting versions of a shocking tragedy six years ago whose after-effects continue to be felt in Indian politics. Will the truth behind the Godhra train-burning ever be known? The investigative commission of Justice (retd) G.T. Nanavati and Justice (retd) Akshay Mehta, set up by Gujarat's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government headed by Narendra Modi March 6, 2002, has concluded that the burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra town on the morning of Feb 27, 2002 was a well-planned conspiracy. It said Godhra-based Maulvi Umarji hatched the conspiracy in the Aman Guest house in the west Gujarat town and two people procured 120 litres of petrol for the purpose. The train was stopped as it pulled out of the Godhra railway station, the S-6 and S-7 were stonned for 10-20 minutes and the S-6 coach was set on fire, it found. The incident claimed 59 lives, many of them Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh where they had participated in a campaign to build a grand Ram temple there. It also triggered state-wide communal carnage, one of the worst in independent India, killing 1,167 people - most of them Muslims. The panel report, tabled in the Gujarat assembly Thursday, has virtually given a clean chit to Modi and his colleagues, saying there was no evidence to incriminate him or any member of his cabinet, even as rights bodies maintain his police force was biased and the violence could have been stopped early on. The Nanavati-Mehta panel's findings, however, contradict the conclusion of the U.C. Banerjee committee set up by the Railway Ministry Sep 3, 2004. The Banerjee committee noted "a preponderance of evidence" that the fire "originated in the coach itself without any external input". According to BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, the Nanavati-Mehta report is "the most extensive, exhaustive and scientific report" on the train-burning, while the Banerjee report was “ill-prepared and politically motivated?. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, on the other hand, said: "It (the Nanavati-Mehta probe) cannot be called a bona fide investigation." Mukul Sinha of the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) who represented the violence victims before the Nanavati-Mehta investigation panel termed its report as "absurd". "The part one of the report is not supported by credible and independent evidence. Everything in it is based on police official Noel Parmar's report which has been rejected by the Supreme Court," Sinha told IANS in Ahmedabad Thursday. "It is a travesty of justice as the accusations were made against the police in the post-Godhra riots and yet the very same police's report has been used to bring out this report," Sinha said. Read it all ---------------------------- Friday,26 September 2008 18:57 hrs IST http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&programId=1073750966&articleType=English&contentId=4555810&BV_ID=@@@ Nanavati report raises 'needle of suspicion': CPM New Delhi: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) Friday alleged that the "piecemeal delivering" of the Justice Nanavati Commission report on the Godhra train tragedy tends to justify the "action-reaction theory propagated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Sangh Parivar organisations". The CPM said the timing of tabling the report "was indeed suspicious" coming as it did ahead of assembly elections to some states in November. "The second part is slated to be released on the eve of the coming general elections," the CPI-M said pointing to the report findings being presented in a piecemeal fashion, The report has come "after an abnormally long delay and that too in a piecemeal fashion raising many needles of suspicion", the party politburo said in a statement here.   ......more