Ahmedabad, June 29: The Jamiat-Ulma-e-Hind (JUH) has challenged the order of Nanavati Commission rejecting its plea, opposing cross examination of IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt, in the Gujarat High Court.
On June 22, Commission had rejected JUH application challenging the cross examination of Bhatt by the state government and others saying that it was ‘devoid of merits’.
JUH today filed a petition in the High Court demanding quashing of Commission’s order rejecting its application challenging Bhatt’s cross examination.
It has also sought that till the questions raised by its petition are not decided upon, the proceeding in the Nanavati Commission, where cross examination of Bhatt was scheduled, be stayed.
The matter is likely to come up for hearing tomorrow, JUH counsel K G Vakharia said.
JUH has contended in its petition that Commission had seriously misunderstood and misconstrued its powers under sections 4 and 5 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
“The Commission has overstepped its limits and exceeded its jurisdiction by engaging in a wrong interpretation of section 8C of the Commission of Inquiry Act,” it alleged in the petition.
JUH, earlier in its application before Nanavati Commission had opposed cross examination of Bhatt saying it was inconsistent with provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act. The application was rejected by the commission.
“The Commission forgets that it is ultimately a creature of statute and it has no authority or jurisdiction to go beyond the plain text of the statute by not summoning respondent no.3 (Bhatt) as a witness but calling him still a witness and within the purview of section 8C of the Act, the Commission has exceeded its jurisdiction,” the petition added.
According to JUH, Bhatt cannot be cross examined as he was summoned by Commission by exercising power under section 5 read with section 4 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, which means that he was summoned as an informant and not as witness.
JUH has further contended that Commission erred in holding that if questions were asked to Bhatt by it or the State with a view to test his believability or truthfulness of the allegations, it cannot be said that the procedure adopted by the Commission is contrary to the provisions of the Act.
Bhatt was already cross examined by the Commission, Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), Congress party and the Central Relief Committee (CRC) while the state government was about to cross examine him.
Commission had reasoned that answers of Bhatt amounted to allegation against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other persons referred by Bhatt, which were relevant for the purpose of inquiry.
Bhatt was summoned by the Commission last month for questioning in connection with his affidavit in the Supreme Court where he had claimed that Modi on night of February 27, 2002 had called a meeting where he instructed his officers to allow Hindus “to vent out their anger” during the clashes and he wanted Muslims to be “taught a lesson”.
—PTI