REMOVE ‘TAINTED’ JUDGE FROM RIOTS PANEL, MODI TOLD

The National Minority Commission (NMC) has asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the appointment of Justice Akshay Mehta in the Nanavati-Shah Commission. The Modi government had appointed Mehta as one of the two members of the Commission in April this year following the death of Justice K G Shah.

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June 20, 2022
The National Minority Commission (NMC) has asked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the appointment of Justice Akshay Mehta in the Nanavati-Shah Commission. The Modi government had appointed Mehta as one of the two members of the Commission in April this year following the death of Justice K G Shah.
The decision invited sharp reactions from various quarters since he is believed to have been instrumental in granting bail to Babu Bajrangi, a former VHP leader who is the main accused in the Naroda-Patiya massacre of March 2002 that left at least 89 people dead.
Expressing “anguish and dismay,” the NCM, in a sharply worded letter to Modi on June 30, told him to replace Mehta if his government believes in values of fair play, justice and impartiality, which are enshrined in the constitution. “These kinds of actions will definitely result in minorities losing confidence in our institution of judicial system and governance,” the letter said.
Stating that wounds from the carnage of 2002 are yet to be healed completely, the NCM asserted that the presence of a “tainted” judge like Mehta on the panel would be sure to create a sense of fear, insecurity and suspicion amongst the minority community.
Citing media reports, the NCM claimed that Justice Mehta had granted bail to the main accused without even going through the relevant files, whereas his predecessors had categorically rejected Bajrangi’s bail application keeping in view the magnitude of his crimes. “With the appointment of Justice Akshay Mehta, the Nanavati Commission has clearly become a namesake and an eye wash commission having hardly any credibility among eyes of civil society,” the NCM said in the letter. It further said that the unfolding of judicial proceedings in the horrific events of 2002 are under constant scrutiny, both in India and abroad.
Following Mehta’s appointment, various human rights groups, including the Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), which is fighting the cases of victims and survivors of the violence, had recently refused to attend the sittings of the Commission, making it clear that they questioned its credibility. Although the Commission was asked to submit its report within three months at the time of its constitution in 2002, the Modi government repeatedly extended its term, with the latest date named being December 31, 2008.