J.S. Verma, former chief justice of India speaks about Gujarat Violence

Outlook.com October 03, 2008 Jitender Gupta

INTERVIEW

'In '02, I Asked The Centre To Use Art 355 On Gujarat'

Former CJI, and chairman of the NHRC at the critical time when the Gujarat riots took place, on Nanavati Commission and more

SABA NAQVI INTERVIEWS J.S. VERMA

| E-MAIL | ONE PAGE FORMAT | FEEDBACK: SEND - READ |

J.S. Verma, former chief justice of India, is considered both an excellent legal mind and a man of great integrity in an age when standards of judicial probity have fallen so sharply. He has been part of several significant judgements of the Supreme Court, besides having been chairman of the National Human Rights Commission at the critical time when the Gujarat riots took place. He spoke to Saba Naqvi. Excerpts:  Judges seem to be complicit in trying matters through commissions of inquiry or being used for political purposes?  Well, I am upset at the inordinate delay in commissions of inquiry.
I'm shocked that Nanavati should say the NHRC got the Gujarat government's cooperation. His absolving it of failure to implement the NHRC recommendations goes against public records.	The Liberhans Commission has been at it, examining the Babri Masjid demolition, for 16 years. Even the Nanavati Commission that is in the news now has taken six-and-a-half years to come up with its findings. I don't want to say anything about it giving a clean chit to the Narendra Modi government. But I want to say something about the claim made by

the commission that the Gujarat government complied with all the requests made by the NHRC of which I was then the chairman. Justice Nanavati has absolved the Gujarat government of failure to implement the recommendations of the NHRC. That is against public records. Please see my letter of January 3, 2003, to the prime minister, within a fortnight of when I demitted office. In the letter, I expressed my deep anguish that a lot remained to be done to give justice to the victims of Gujarat which required reparation and also identifying perpetrators and punishing them. This letter is part of the annexure of the 2002-03 annual report of the NHRC.  more