The National Commission for
Minorities (NCM) has had to eat humble pie after it tried to overstep its
jurisdiction and assume the role of an investigative body while dealing with
the complaint of a 2002 Gujarat communal riots victim.
However, it was only after
Attorney-General G.E.
Vahanvati’s advice on the matter
that the NCM beat a hasty retreat and dismissed the complaint.
In its order last month, the NCM has
had to admit that “the Commission does
not have jurisdiction to look into
this matter in order to investigate it” with regard to the complaint made to it
by Niyazbibi Bannumiyan Malek in February this year”.
Ironically, in March 2012 the NCM
had declared that it was “competent and (it was) within its jurisdiction to
take cognisance” of Ms Malek’s complaint. The Gujarat government, which was the
respondent in the complaint, however, had contended that the NCM was
overstepping its jurisdiction.
Ms Malek from Ognaz village in
Gujarat had complained that her house was attacked
by a mob, looted and destroyed during the 2002 riots. She also alleged that her
family was forced to make a distress sale of the land it owned in the village.
She also said that her attempts to register an FIR were “rebuffed”.
Mr Vahanvati, however, is learnt to
have told the NCM that it is not a judicial or investigative body and can only
take up issues concerning the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the
minorities. He also told the NCM that the complaint was seeking to convert the
Commission into an inquisitorial forum which was not allowed. And this is what
the NCM has said while dismissing Ms Malek’s complaint.
The A-G is also said to have told
the Commission that it is “not a judicial or investigative body, nor does it
have any judicial or coercive powers with regard to its functioning”.
Incidentally, Ms Malek’s complaint
saw Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt too appearing before the Commission.
Mr Bhatt had submitted an
application to the NCM stating that he was with the state Intelligence Bureau,
Gandhinagar, when the “incident” occurred and that the state’s complicity in
the 2002 violence cannot be ruled out.
PARUL CHANDRA
NEW DELHI, AUG. 10
