Omissions and Commissions
(Mukul Sinha)
The spectre of “Terrorism” seems to have finally captured the sensibility of the entire nation. All spaces, be that in the print media or the electronic media, be it in a public place or in a private drawing room, are fully occupied by this spectre; a sterile nation incapable of focussing on any other issue. A fertile ground for politics of deceit.
This perhaps, was the ideal setting to release the report on “ the facts, circumstances and course of events of the incidents that led to the setting on fire some of the coaches of Sabarmati Express train on 27.2.2002 near Godhra railway station” which was the first term of reference for inquiry that was referred to the Inquiry Commission appointed by the Government of Gujarat in March, 2002! What other explanation can we find for this sudden haste to submit the report on the Godhra incident as a Part-1 report, when the Commission had not bothered to submit such a report in the last six and half years? Admittedly the issue of Godhra was not the only term of reference. The Government of Gujarat in March, 2002 had made a three point reference for inquiry:
- The facts, circumstances and course of events of the incidents that led to the setting on fire some of the coaches of Sabarmati Express train on 27.2.2002 near Godhra railway station;
- The facts, circumstances and course of events of the subsequent incidents of violence in the State in the aftermath of the Godhra incident; and
- The adequacy of the administrative measures taken to prevent and deal with the disturbances in Godhra and subsequent disturbances in the State;
Apart from the aforesaid three point reference, the Government added few more terms to the original reference sometime in 2004. One such term was an inquiry in respect of the Chief Minister, other ministers etc. Admittedly, the Commission has not submitted any report on the subsequent incidents of violence in the aftermath of the Godhra incident or the other points of reference. Suffice is to ask: do the victims of the State and ruling party (BJP) organized violence have any right to know why thousand of innocent Muslims were butchered and there homes torched on and after 28.2.2002 or who are the people responsible for such brutal acts of terror?
What also requires to be noted is that the Supreme Court has ordered the further investigation of the Godhra incident and for that purpose has appointed a Special Investigative Team. The SIT has just been given extension upto December, 2008. Under these circumstance, propriety demanded that the Commission ought to have waited for the SIT report and not relied upon the earlier investigation papers filed by Noel Parmar which has not been accepted a final by the Apex Court.
Was it not necessary to treat the victims of both the Godhra as well as the post Godhra violence equally, atleast in the matter of inquiry into their miseries? But alas! In this country, the minorities are slowly fading out from our constitution and made to reappear as the spectre to be hunted.
A very similar fate had befallen the hapless Sikhs of the country in 1984. After the death of Smt Indira Gandhi on 1st November, 1984, the Congress goons decided to teach the Sikhs a lesson, as her assailants were Sikhs! By five O’clock in the evening, the pogrom started and thousands were killed in the next few days. Since then, the victims have struggled for justice which has still eluded them. The efficacy of commissions under the Commission of Inquiries Act, or the lack of it, is perhaps best demonstrated by the functioning of the commissions to inquire into the incident of the violence against the Sikhs in 1984. A total of ten Commissions or Committees under the suggestions of the Commissions have been constituted by the Government the last one being the Commission presided by Justice Nanavati.
The farcical nature of such inquiries is precisely designed not to deliver justice but to obfuscate the issues so as to fade away from the realm of public memory. A quick look at the drama that was enacted in the Sikh riot case would establish to what extent the ruling cliques can go to subvert justice.
The first commission that was appointed by the Government in the Sikh riot case was the Marwah Commission.This commission was appointed in November 1984. Ved Marwah, Additional Commissioner of Police, was assigned the job of enquiring into the role of the police during the carnage of November 1984. The next was theMisra Commission of EnquiryMisra commission was appointed in May 1985. Justice Rangnath Misra, was a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of India. Justice Misra submitted his report in August 1986 and the report was made public six months thereafter in February 1987. In his report, Justice Misra stated that it was not part of his terms of reference to identify any person and recommended the formation of three committees. There was only one term of reference to this commission, i.e. whether the violence was organised? The commission and its report has been heavily criticized as biased and a miscarriage of justice.
Next started the appointment of committes! Kapur Mittal Committee was appointed in February 1987 on the recommendation of the Misra Commission to inquire into the role of the police, which the Marwah Commission had almost completed in 1985. No action was taken on its report. Potti Rosha Committee was appointed in March 1990, by the V.P. Singh government, as a successor to the Jain Banerjee Committee.. Jain Aggarwal Committee. The committee was appointed in December 1990 as a successor to the Potti Rosha Committee. Ahuja Committee was the third committee recommended by the Misra Commission to ascertain the total number of killings in Delhi.. Dhillon Committee headed by Mr Gurdial Singh Dhillon was appointed in 1985 to recommend measures for the rehabilitation of the victims. be directed to pay the claims. However, the government did not accept this recommendation and as a result insurance claims were rejected by all insurance companies throughout the country. Narula Committee was appointed in December 1993 by the Madan Lal Khurana government in Delhi.
The Nanavati Commission was appointed by the NDA Government in May 2000. This Commission submitted its report in February 2004! Interestingly Justice Nanavati did agree with many things said by Justice Ranganath Mishra about seventeen years back!For instance, he held that there was absolutely no evidence suggesting that Shri Rajiv Gandhi or any other high ranking Congress (I) Leader had suggested or organized attacks on Sikhs. Whatever acts were done, were done by the local Congress (I) leaders and workers.. As regards, the role of police officers, the Commission held that “the Commission agrees with the findings recorded earlier by Justice Mishra Commission and by the Committees, which had looked into their conduct. The Commission has nothing further to add …” One wonders why a new Commission was required to be appointed if it had to agree to the earlier one!
There was widespread protest against the report as it did not mention clearly the role of Tytler and other Congressmen in the riots. The ATR report, while exonerating Mr Tytler, said, "a person cannot be prosecuted simply on the basis of probabilities."
The purpose of this article is not to be a critic of the Justice Nanavati Commission report in the Sikh riot case, but simply to demostrate that unless we completely over haul the law, the victims of the marginal classes and community cannot expect any justice in this system.
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