AHMEDABAD: The G.T. Nanavati and K.G. Shah Judicial Inquiry Commission probing the 2002 Gujarat communal riots has rejected the Presidential Secretariat's plea of privilege in suppressing the communication between the then President and Prime Minister.

Accepting the arguments of the advocate for the riot victims, Mukul Sinha, the Commission said it would ask the Presidential secretariat again to furnish the letter written by the then President, K.R. Narayanan, to the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, reportedly expressing his anguish over the delay in calling out the Army to control the riot situation.

Mr. Sinha later told the media that the Commission's stand on the Presidential privilege was a benchmark judgment and probably the first such order issued anywhere in the country. He said the Presidential Secretariat might seek legal advice before acceding to the Commission's request.

Mr. Narayanan's letter might provide a clue in deciding the role of the then State administration and Chief Minister Narendra Modi in bringing the situation under control. The demand to seek Mr. Narayanan's deposition was made by Mr. Sinha after the then President disclosed in a media interview that he had written a letter to Mr. Vajpayee advising him to ask the State Government to immediately call out the Army.

After Mr. Narayanan turned down the suggestion to appear before the Commission saying that he had "nothing more to add" to what he had stated in the media interview, Mr. Sinha demanded that the letters exchanged between the President and the Prime Minister be produced before the Commission.

The Presidential Secretariat, however, rejected the plea claiming privilege under Article 74(2) of the Constitution.

Accepting Mr. Sinha's stand — he quoted a 1993 judgment of the Supreme Court — the Commission on Tuesday ruled that the privilege to the President's letter was not absolute unless any such disclosure could threaten national security or was against public interest. The Commission took the stand that submitting Mr. Narayanan's letter to it would cause no threat to the national security and instead it could be useful to the probe. It decided to request the Presidential secretariat again to, at least, send a copy of the letter.

The Commission, however, rejected a request of State Congress spokesman Jayantilal Parmar to summon the then Defence Minister, George Fernandes, who recently made a statement in Ahmedabad claiming that Mr. Modi had called out the Army in time and had made arrangements for the troop deployment in strategic places.

The Commission posted for September 24 the hearing on the plea of the State Government pleader, J.M. Panchal, to summon four persons, who claimed to have been travelling in the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002. Mr. Panchal agreed that they had not filed any affidavit before the Commission initially but were now keen to give evidence before it. The Commission would also hear, on the same day, the suggestion to summon some members of the then Modi Cabinet.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail