Lok Sabha adjourns over Godhra report

     New Delhi/Ahmedabad: The Lok Sabha was adjourned here today for about an hour when the Justice U C Banerjee Committee report on the gruesome Sabarmati Express carnage in Godhra in March 2002 was about to be tabled and the opposition benches objected to it and stalled the Parliament proceedings. Meanwhile, the Gujarat High Court today criticised the Justice U C Banerjee Committee for making its report public without seeking the permission of the High Court. "They (Banerjee Committee) were expected to wait till March 7 when the court was to give an interim order. The Committee has over-reached the process of the court," Justice M R Shah said in the order.

    On Monday, the Gujarat High Court had directed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government not to table in Parliament the reports of Justice U C Banerjee Committee. Justice M R Shah of the High Court had halted the Centre and all the parties concerned till the conclusion of hearing on a petition filed by a relative of a survivor from the Sabarmati Express train carnage in which 59 persons were killed on February 27, 2002. U C Banerjee's report confirmed that the Sabarmati Express fire was "accidental" and not intentional. However, the Sangh Parivar and the Gujarat Government claims it to be a "conspiracy". The conclusions of the report led to a chaotic situation in Parliament on Monday, as the UPA allies clashed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and demanded removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on Monday following the furore created by the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) members on Banerjee's Godhra report. The one-man committee was appointed by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav soon after he took charge of the ministry. In its interim report on January 17, 2005, Justice Banerjee had indicated that preliminary inquiries had revealed that there were no indication that S-6 had been torched from outside. The Banerjee panel's findings also contradict the initial reports filed by the Railway Protection Force on February 27, 2002, which stated that the coach was attacked by a mob which was later fired upon by Railway Protection Force (RPF). However, speaking to the media, Justice Banerjee eluded giving the exact reason behind the cause of fire. On the others side, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also asked Modi to resign, with a judicial commission nailing the false propaganda on the Godhra incident that led to the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat.

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