Now, the chief justice of the high court will allot the case to a new judge.
Justice (retd) G T Nanavati, who gave a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Godhra train carnage, on Friday refused to be drawn into a controversy over comparisons of his report with that of the Banerjee Commission set up by the Railway Ministry.
Law Minister Veerappa Moily said the Gujarat court's judgement in the Godhra case does not justify the riots that followed the train burning incident.
The police, however, said that if their involvement is established in the course of investigations, legal action will be taken against them.
The Godhra inquiry panel on Saturday ordered two mobile service providers to provide the call details of Gujarat ministers, legislators, police officials and Chief Minister Narendra Modi, during the post-Godhra communal riots.
The Commission also asked the NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch (which represented a section of the riot-affected families) to also conduct their own analysis of the CDs and submit a statement about the findings to the panel on July 21.
The half-page advertisements in Hindi and Gujarati in almost all English and language dailies had accused the UPA government of trying to rub salt into the wounds of the people affected in the 2002 Sabarmati Express train burning case.
"I don't have any words to describe our plight in the last nine years. My Ammi (mother) says if Islam allows suicide she would like to end her life," says Saeed Omerjee, son of Maulvi Omerjee, one of the main accused in the Godhra train burning case.
Zakia Jafri's lawyer on Friday alleged before a court here that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had conspired to instigate Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers and other members of Hindu community after the Godhra train burning incident in 2002.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had on October 12 last year reserved its verdict after an 11-day hearing on the petitions, including the one filed by Bano.
Security has been stepped up in the city and Godhra town in wake of the 10th anniversary of the Sabarmati Express train carnage, which killed 59 people and triggered large-scale communal violence in many parts of Gujarat in 2002 claiming over 1200 lives.
Gujarat was labelled Hindutva's crucible and Modi was to become the chief 'chemist'. A revealing political saga excerpted from Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay's The Demolition, the Verdict and the Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project.
"Why are our jails overcrowded? Why is the the policy of remission being applied selectively?"
Under renewed attack over the post-Godhra riots, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he was opposed to that violence and still denounces them.
A fast-track court in Mehsana had acquitted all the 27 accused on June 14, 2005.
Critical of then BJP-led Central government, Bhandari claimed the Modi's removal would have prevented the situation from deteriorating.
The state government had opposed his bail plea saying the alleged offence is a "very heinous crime" and there is a prima-facie case against him and the role attributable to him in support of the charge.
The petitioner, Mukul Sinha of Jan Sangarsh Manch, wants to cross-examine Zaheera in connection with an affidavit filed by her before the commission.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit by October 16 the original records related to the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Justice U C Banerjee, who had described the Godhra train carnage as "accidental", said he will stand by his inquiry commission report "200 per cent."
"Taking note of this unreasonable stand of the Union government... it will now be open to the commission to draw its own inferences with respect to the (President's) letters (written to the then PM A B Vajpayee)'', the pnel said.
The Commission has not given any time frame for the President's office to give the letters.
The commission will visit the Godhra railway station and inspect the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express during its one-day visit.
The team comprises fire and other technical experts and they will probe the exact cause of the fire inside the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.
"The mood of the nation is sober. If we can take the Ayodhya judgment in our stride, we can very well pass through the Godhra judgment peacefully. I am very confident." says Kamal Farooqui, member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday said it was disappointed by the Gujarat court's decision to award death penalty to only 11 convicts in the Godhra train burning case and asked the state government to appeal against the verdict.
Krishnakumar Padmanabhan finds hope, despair and anger in Godhra.
The committee will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice U C Banerjee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi after a Cabinet meeting.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the circulation of Justice G T Nanavati's report about the Godhra carnage in Gujarat.The NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace, approached the apex court contending that a report by Justice U C Banerjee Committee on the same carnage has been stayed and a similar step should be taken for the Justice Nanavati Commission Report, which was tabled in the Gujarat assembly on Thursday.
The religious leader and cleric from Godhra is the main accused in the Godhra train carnage.
Maulvi Hussain Umarji, the cleric who was branded as the key conspirator of the 2002 Sabarmati Express carnage but was later acquitted, died in Godhra after a prolonged illness, his family said on Monday. Umarji, 65, who had been bed-ridden since his acquittal in February 2011, passed away on Sunday night.
The VHP and Shiv Sena have planned various programmes to mark the occasion.
The Gujarat government has said the apex court's observation in the January 8 judgment, holding the state guilty of "usurpation of power" and "abuse of discretion" for complying with an order of another top court bench, was an "error apparent on the face of the record" primarily on three grounds.
The 11 convicts in the case of gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat can approach the Maharashtra government with request for remission of their sentences.
'Elections and audience interest in specific movies are often independent factors.'
The Gujarat government sought a postponement urging the Commission to invite the public to file affidavits about riot incidents that occurred between April 1 and May 31, 2002 since the terms of reference had been expanded recently.
Maulana Hussain Umarji was arrested at Signal Falia near the Godhra railway station.
A special trial court in Gujarat on Friday acquitted all six accused in the 2002 post-Godhra riots case in which three British nationals and their Indian driver were killed at Prantij town in Gujarat's Sabarkantha district, for want of evidence against them.
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