*Truth a casualty Justice Nanavati report pleases Narendra Modi*

*Truth a casualty
Justice Nanavati report pleases Narendra Modi*
Editorial The Tribune, Sep 27, 2008
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080927/edit.htm

TWO divergent reports on one incident! The G.T. Nanavati Commission, which
inquired into the 2002 Gujarat riots, has in its report concluded that the
attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002, was part of
a conspiracy. This is at variance with the finding of Justice U.C. Banerjee,
appointed by the Railway Ministry, that the train fire in which 59 karsevaks
were killed was accidental. In its eagerness to please Chief Minister
Narendra Modi, the commission has in the first part of the report itself
given a clean chit to him. It did not want to wait for the second part of
the report that deals with the post-Godhra events, which is yet to be
submitted. As was only to be expected, Mr Modi has been going to town
claiming that he has been vindicated.
That the so-called "conspirators" knew in advance that so many karsevaks
were in that compartment, when the police had no such knowledge, bought and
stored 140 litres of petrol to cause the fire are all difficult to believe.
The commission has not relied on the reports that some of the karsevaks had
an altercation with some Muslims at the Godhra station and that rumours had
spread about their alleged misbehaviour with a girl. Any reliance on such
reports would have knocked the bottom off the conspiracy theory. Assuming
that the Godhra attack was planned and executed by some Muslims, this does
not justify what happened subsequently.
It is significant that while Madhya Pradesh, which is closer to Godhra,
remained peaceful, there was a violent reaction hundreds of kilometres away
in Ahmedabad and other places. If anything this proves that the anti-Muslim
pogrom that followed Godhra was not spontaneous but engineered by the vested
interests. If the Modi Government was not to blame, why did then Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee find it necessary to advise the Chief Minister
to follow Rajdharma? Had the State government followed the rule of law, it
would have spared no efforts to punish those who attacked the train and to
protect the innocent citizens. In any incident of crime, one line of
investigation is to find out who ultimately benefited from it. The Nanavati
Commission surely does not seem to have adopted this time-tested method. It
is a pity that governments can get the kind of judicial reports they want
and truth becomes a casualty.

********************************

*Nanavati report based on manufactured evidence: Tehelka*
Indo-Asian News Service - New Delhi, September 27, 2008
http://www.itgo.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12867&Itemid=1§ionid=9

The Nanavati Commission relied on "manufactured evidence" to conclude that
the Godhra train burning tragedy was pre-planned, according to the *Tehelka
*newsmagazine, which last year carried out an undercover investigation into
the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat.

Showing the footage of the sting operation, part of the sensational expose
in November carried out by an undercover journalist, *Tehelka* editor Tarun
Tajpal said witnesses were caught on camera saying they were bribed by the
Gujarat police to make false statements before the investigative commission.

"We forwarded the footage of the sting to the Nanavati Commission last year,
but unfortunately we have not heard anything from them," Tejpal said.

The first part of the panel report tabled in the Gujarat legislative
assembly on Thursday concludes that the train-burning at Godhra town was a
premeditated crime and not an accident.

"Based on our investigation, we appeal to the panel to re-look at all
evidence submitted by the Gujarat police as it can have dangerous
consequences on society," Tejpal said.

The commission said it found that 140 litres of petrol was procured from a
petrol pump in Godhra town the day before the burning of a coach of the
Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002, but according to the Tehelka sting
nobody had bought so much petrol.

The commission report rests on the testimonies of two witnesses, petrol pump
salesmen Ranjitsinh Patel and Prabhatsinh Patel, who said they had sold 140
litres of petrol to Salim Panwala.

"Shockingly, *Tehelka* caught Ranjitsinh Patel on camera saying chief
investigating officer Noel Parmar had paid both of them Rs.50,000 each to
change their (earlier) statement and identify some Muslims as
conspirators,"Tejpal said.

The other pieces of evidence presented by the police before the commission
were manufactured to present the train burning accident as a conspiracy,
Tejpal said.

The Tehelka expose showed prominent Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang
Dal leaders admitting in their conversations with the undercover reporter
that Modi sanctioned the killings in the wake of the train burning in
Godhra, in which 59 Hindu passengers were killed.

As many as 1,169 people - majority of them Muslims - were killed in the
subsequent communal violence.