Ahmedabad, December 29
Rejecting the state government’s plea , the Gujarat High Court today entrusted the CBI with the task of collecting samples of the skeletal remains from a mass grave found in Panchmahal district on Tuesday.
It further asked the government to report back to it with the results of the DNA tests performed on the samples.
The interim order of far-reaching implications by Mr Justice C.K. Buch came following a petition filed by Aminaben Habib Rasool and Teesta Setalvad of an NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace.
The Judge ruled that the mortal remains of suspected victims of the communal riots of 2002 be exhumed in the presence of CBI officials and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Hyderabad for DNA testing.
The High Court also ruled that the results of the FSL tests be sent to the CBI and also to the court in a sealed cover.
Aminaben, who lost her 25-year- old son in the killings at Pandarwada in Panchamahal district, had petitioned the High Court on Tuesday when mass grave was found.
The relatives of the riot victims suspected that mortal remains were of minority community members who were killed and surreptiously dumped at the place.
When the matter came up before the High Court on Thursday, the Additional Advocate-General Kamal Trivedi, representing the Gujarat Government, pleaded against involving the CBI in the entire process of collecting samples and DNA testing.
The reason advanced was that it would demoralise the police which had done its duty in a transparent manner.The court rejected the plea.
Advocate M.M.Tirmizi, representing Aminaben, had sought an interim order from the Judge when the government pleader wanted more time to study the case.
Besides the CBI probe, the petition had also sought action against the district administration officials for not acting on the missing persons report which had earlier been filed by the kin of the victims.
The court ruled that sample of each of the bodies exhumed from the mass grave should be collected separately and sealed in the presence of the investigating team and sent in sealed packages for testing.
"The CBI may be assisted by a police officer from the state," the court order said.
Mr Tirmizi said there were, prima facie, reasons to believe that the due process of law had not been carried out by the police since the mortal remains had been found with remnants of clothings on their person.
