Summon top cops of Gujarat: rights group to Godhra panel

Monday, August 21st, 2006

Ahmedabad - A human rights group here has requested the Godhra probe panel to summon senior police officials of Gujarat for being inactive during the 2002 sectarian violence.

The Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) petitioned the panel of retired judges G.T. Nanavati and K.G. Shah to summon seven top cops for cross-examination.

The JSM contended that certain police officers ‘who were on duty on Feb 28, 2002 in the Sector-2 of Ahmedabad Police Commissionerate area, were deliberately inactive, thus giving a free hand to the perpetrators of the riots’.

The probe panel was petitioned to summon the officers with new reference.

The Nanavati commission was been set up to look into the communal violence that claimed at least 1000 lives across the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, Monday objected to the analysis of the compact discs (CDs) containing records of mobile calls made by some leaders during the violence.

The opposition from the BJP has come after the commission accepted a petition from the JSM to get the CDs analysed.

The panel had Aug 1 asked the government to suggest an appropriate agency for an analysis of the data.

Raising the doubts on the credibility of the CDs in its petition, the BJP argued: ‘The CDs are not obtained from competent authority and therefore the correctness of details of said CDs are doubtful.’

Questioning the authenticity of the creator of the CDs and the purpose to bring them out, BJP alleged ‘breach of privacy’ on part of police official Rahul Sharma, who submitted them to the commission.