Gujarat EDN
TOI 28SEP2012
TIMES
NEWS NETWORK
Ahmedabad: Another PIL has been filed in the Gujarat high court demanding that chief minister Narendra Modi should be summoned by the Nanavati commission that probes the 2002 riots.
This time, it is People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who have sought HC directions to the probe panel to issue notice to Modi “so as to enable his appearance and examination”. Earlier, similar demands were rejected by the high court. Bhatt has implicated Modi in the 2002 riots, but his claims have been disregarded by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT.
The petitioners have requested the court to direct the inquiry commission to order the state government under provisions of section 4 of the Commission of Inquiries Act to ask the secretary to protect and preserve all documents that are laying with the state intelligence bureau. These documents were sought by Bhatt last year from the SIB for the purpose of deposition before the commission. The same documents were sought again in February this year.
The petitioners have also requested the court to direct the commission to forward certain documents and all ‘representations’ referred to in the Notification of July 20, 2004 to them.
The PIL seeks HC order to commission to summon Bhatt and examine him and/or summon Modi. Bhatt was examined last year by the commission. He offered to depose further before the commission on condition that he is summoned to do so. He said he could not volunteer to reveal facts about the 2002 riots otherwise he was bound by oath of secrecy as an intelligence officer.
