Saturday, June 1, 2002
Another NHRC report indicts Modi
HT Correspondent (New Delhi, May 31)
The National Human Rights Commission on Friday released another report on the Gujarat violence, indicting the Narendra Modi Government for its failure on all fronts. The indictment came after the state administration failed to respond, despite repeated reminders, to queries raised in a confidential report. The NHRC further noted that the government's April 12 response to the panel's preliminary comments (made public) also failed to rebut the presumption that the state administration was unable to deal with the violence. In continuation of its April 1 preliminary comments, a bench headed by NHRC chairman Justice J.S. Verma concluded on Friday that the government had failed to gather intelligence to anticipate the likely fallout from the Godhra incident. Neither did it take action against the rioters nor were local factors and players behind the violence identified. The panel said the government's report to the NHRC lacked transparency with regard to the pattern of arrests. Referring to the report of the NHRC's special representative in Gujarat, the bench said that 90 per cent of the suspects in heinous offences like murder and arson could manage to obtain bail soon after arrest. The panel also charged the Modi regime with discriminatory handling of major cases. It said the government failed to identify persons who had played a partisan role in tackling communal violence. The NHRC said the police misrepresented facts in FIRs relating to cases of rape and killing. The NHRC recommended that heinous offences be probed by the CBI. It also sought a report from the government by June 30 on its latest comments.
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