The Hindu : NGOs boycott Nanavati panel proceedings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2003

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NGOs boycott Nanavati panel proceedings

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD June 16. The G.D. Nanavati Commission inquiring into the Godhra train carnage and the communal riots that followed in Gujarat last year, had to face rough weather during its sitting in Vadodara today.

Incensed by Justice Nanavati's alleged remarks in New Delhi recently that the Commission had so far not come across anything against the Narendra Modi Government or about alleged police failure, several non-government organisations, some individual Muslim leaders and riot-victims boycotted the commission's proceedings.

Shanti Abhiyan, the People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and several other organisations told the commission that the people had lost confidence in the impartiality of the commission.

Rohit Prajapati of the PUCL, while handing over a protest memorandum to the commission, said the judge had no right to continue making a ``pre-determined'' statement in the media. Some other NGOs said they no longer trusted the commission.

`Riot victims scared'

Another NGO, Medico-Friend Circle, told the commission that the riot victims were scared to appear before the panel fearing reprisals.

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