Date:29/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/29/stories/2005122906891200.htm

National

Mass grave: NHRC seeks report from Gujarat, CBI

Staff Correspondent

DNA testing of the skeletal remains sought

UNEARTHING THE TRUTH: Police personnel and other officials inspect the mass grave site at Lunawada village in Gujarat on Wednesday. — Photo: AP

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Gujarat Government and the Central Bureau of India on media reports on the unearthing of a mass grave at Lunawada in Panchmahals district.

The NHRC, which took suo motu cognisance of the matter, has asked the CBI Director and the Director-General of Police, Gujarat, to submit their comments within two weeks.

The mass grave is believed to contain the skeletal remains of the victims of the post-Godhra violence in 2002.

Petition seeks CBI probe

PTI reports from Ahmedabad:

A relative of a riot victim filed a writ petition in the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday, seeking a CBI investigation into the unearthing of a mass grave and DNA testing of the skeletal remains.

The petition was filed before Justice C. K. Buch after some of the relatives of the riot victims on Tuesday dug up a mass grave besides the Panam river and claimed that the skeletal remains seen there might be those of the victims of a massacre in the nearby Pandrawada.

The petition was filed by Ameena Habib Rasool of Pandarwada, whose young son was killed in the riots. "Citizens for Justice and Peace" is the second petitioner.

The petitioners demanded that the samples of the skeletal remains be sent to the Red Hill Laboratory in Hyderabad for DNA testing.

"The petitioners have prayed for the sealing of the entire remains unearthed by relatives of the deceased on December 27, 2005, in the presence of the relatives, who must be treated as complainants," it said.

The petition alleged that "no proper post-mortem of any of the deceased was done by the police" and the relatives found clothes belonging to the victims alongside the skeletal remains, which, it said, showed that no proper investigation was done. "The non-removal of the clothes of the deceased itself suggests that the bodies were buried without proper post-mortem. Normally, after post-mortem, bodies are kept in white shrouds; but here the clothes of the victims who had been massacred were found in tact."

"Moreover, the original First Information Report recorded by the local police (on the Pandarwada massacre of March 1, 2002) shows death of only eight persons, whereas at least 26 persons had died... "

The petitioners said the police was behaving in "a high-handed ... manner," having detained the relatives of the deceased and the field co-ordinator of an NGO at the local station for hours.

"The State of Gujarat, through its administration, appears keen on indicting the relatives looking for their lost ones," as the police on Tuesday spoke about the possibility of initiating legal action against those who had dug up the grave without permission, the petition said.

The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Thursday.

Director-General of Police A. K. Bhargava on Tuesday said the forensic science laboratory in Gandhinagar would conduct DNA tests to "prevent any controversy... "

The local administration had buried 20 of the Pandarwada riot victims, following legal procedures, including post-mortem, he said.

A CBI team on Wednesday visited the mass grave at Lunavada, said Collector D. H. Brahmbhat.