Commission to hear plea for cross-examination of Modi

 An NGO's application seeking cross-examination of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots will be heard by the Nanavati Commission on May 20.  

Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), which has been contesting for the justice of riot victims before the commission, had first moved an application in August 2007 demanding cross-examination of Modi, the then Home Minister Godhran Zadafia and some senior police officers who were on duty during the communal riots in the city.  

The hearing on JSM's plea was completed but no order was passed by the commission in this regard.  "JSM filed a fresh application last week refereeing to the August 2007 application, and sought further hearing in light of the Supreme Court order to investigate role of Modi and 63 others in Gulberg Society riot case," the NGO's member Samshad Pathan said.  

"Hearing on our application has been scheduled for May 20," he added.  

The Apex court recently asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted by it, to probe some crucial post-Godhra riot cases afresh and also investigate the role of Modi and 63 others, including bureaucrats, in Gulberg Society riot case here.  

The SIT has been asked to submit a report within three months. The order was passed after hearing a petition by Zakia Jaffrey, wife of ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jaffrey, who was killed during the 2002 riots in Gulburg society.  

Last year Nanavati Commission, headed by retired Justice G T Nanavati, in its first part of the report on Godhra train burning incident had concluded that the incident was a "pre-planned conspiracy" and had given clean chit to Modi and his ministers.  

The report said, "there is absolutely no evidence to show that either the Chief minister or any of the ministers in his council or police officers had played any role in the Godhra incident, or there was any lapse on their part in the matter of providing protection, relief and rehabilitation to the victims of communal riots or not complying with the directions given by the National Human Rights Commission."