The former Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Gordhan Jhadaphia, has denied that there was “any instruction” issued to the police by the government to go soft on Hindu rioters during the 2002 communal pogrom in the State.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi held the Home portfolio at that time.
Mr. Jhadaphia said it would be “wrong” if anyone claimed that the government had instructed the police to give the rioters a free hand for 24 hours during the “Gujarat bandh” on February 28, following the Godhra train carnage.
Mr. Jhadaphia's statement was recorded in an “in-camera” testimony before the G. T. Nanavati-Akshay Mehta judicial inquiry commission on November 19, 2010. Copies of the document, which was kept as classified by the commission for more than a year, were released on Monday to advocates on a demand from the lawyer for the Jan Sangharsh Manch, Mukul Sinha, who represents the riot victims.
The critics of Mr. Modi had expected that Mr Jhadaphia, who has since developed serious differences with the Chief Minister and left the Bharatiya Janata Party just before the 2007 Assembly elections, would spill the beans on the State government's alleged lukewarm attitude to strictly handling the Hindu rioters.
Mr. Jhadaphia, however, had made no mention of the high-level meeting reportedly called by the Chief Minister on the night of February 27, 2002, at his residence in which he was alleged to have “instructed” top police officers to go soft on the Hindu rioters.
State cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had claimed that he was “personally present” at the meeting as an officer of the then State intelligence bureau, in an affidavit before the Supreme Court claimed about Mr. Modi's “instructions.”
Another former State IPS officer, R. B. Shreekumar, who retired as the additional director general of police, had also claimed “knowledge” about such an instruction from the Chief Minister.
Mr. Jhadaphia claimed that on the day of the train carnage on February 27, he had left for Godhra at around 2 p.m. and was there till about 3 a.m. on February 28 before starting for Gandhinagar.
On his way back, he had taken a brief halt at his residence in Ahmedabad before reaching the State capital early onFebruary 28. His presence in Godhra showed that he could not be present at the meeting convened by Mr. Modi.
