AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court on Friday disposed of a petition seeking to hand over the investigation into the sensational Pandarvada skeleton digging case to the CBI. The petition, filed by Amina Bibi with the support of the Mumbai-based Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), could have been allowed only if the CBI had approached the High Court with the request to investigate into the case further, said Justice Kalpesh Jhaveri.

He pointed out that the report of the DNA test of the skeletons and blood samples of some of the relatives were submitted by the Centre to DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, in May but so far the CBI had not approached the High Court for further investigation. The CBI counsel, who was present, however, said he had no instructions from the CBI to approach the High Court with the request.

Amina Bibi later said she would approach the Supreme Court against the High Court order disposing of her petition with the same plea. Mr. Justice Jhaveri, however, rejected the plea of the State Government to vacate the anticipatory bail granted to the Gujarat convener of the CJP, Raees Khan, against whom the police had lodged a case for illegal digging of the graveyard on a river bank in Lunawada taluka in the Panchamahals district where some 22 bodies of the victims of the communal riots in Pandarvada were believed to have been buried. The court fixed February 7 for the next hearing in the case up to which the anticipatory bail will remain in force.

The Pandarvada case had created a sensation when in December last some local people dug up a pit in the presence of Raees Khan and found some skeletons.

The police claimed the skeletons were of those riot victims who were accounted for and were buried officially after due post-mortem, but the local people and the CJP disagreed. Some of the relatives claimed that the skeletons were of those "still missing" since the 2002 riots in the district.

Amina Bibi, relative of one of the "missing persons," approached the High Court earlier this year with the request that the inquiry into the Pandarvada incident be handed over to the CBI. The then single judge bench of Justice C.K. Buch, however, had accepted her plea for carrying out further digging operations under the supervision of the CBI. Blood samples of the relatives were also sent to Hyderabad to ensure if any matched with the skeletons. The Hyderabad laboratory sent its report in May in which it found only six samples matching with the skeletons.

The report strengthened the CJP's apprehension that the Pandarvada riot casualty was much higher than the 22 claimed by the State Government and bodies accounted for. Mr. Justice Jhaveri, however, took strong exception to the CJP convener, Teesta Setalvad, talking about the case before the media on Wednesday claiming that the DNA test report had vindicated her organisation's stand.

Describing her media conference as an "attempt to take cheap publicity," the judge said she could have been tried for contempt of court for discussing a sub-judice matter in the media.

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