Justice Nanavati, ex-SC judge who probed Godhra, anti-Sikh riots, passes away at 86
Ahmedabad, Dec 18: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Girish Thakorlal Nanavati, who headed commissions which inquired into the 1984 anti-Sikh and 2002 post-Godhra riots, passed away here on Saturday.
Nanavati, 86, passed away a cardiac failure at 1:15 pm at his residence here, family members said.
The commission headed by him had given a clean chit to the then Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government with regard to the post-Godhra communal riots.
Nanavati, born on February 17, 1935, was enrolled as an advocate in the Bombay High Court on February 11, 1958.
He was appointed as permanent Judge of the Gujarat High Court from July 19, 1979, and transferred to the Orissa High Court on December 14, 1993.
Nanavati was appointed as the chief justice of the Orissa High Court with effect from January 31, 1994.
He was transferred as Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court from September 28, 1994. Nanavati was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court with effect from March 6, 1995, and retired on February 16, 2000.
After the burning of two coaches of Sabarmati Express at Godhra in which 59 'karsevaks' died and the subsequent riots in February 2002, then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi set up a one-member commission of Justice Nanavati for conducting inquiry.
It was to probe both the train burning incident and the subsequent communal violence in which over 1,000 people, mostly from the minority community, died.
The commission was later reconstituted with Nanavati as its chairman and former Gujarat High Court judge K G Shah as a member. After Justice Shah died, former HC judge Akshay Mehta took his place.
The commission submitted its report in 2014 when Anandiben Patel was chief minister. But it was tabled before the Gujarat Assembly in December 2019, when Vijay Rupani was chief minister.
The commission gave a clean chit to the then Modi-led state government with regard to the riots.
The riots were "not a pre-planned conspiracy or orchestrated violence," and there was no substance in allegation that state authorities turned a blind eye to the violence, the commission said.
Not did it find any evidence against "any religious or political party or organisations as such," though local members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal took part in the incidents which happened in respective localities, the commission said.
Earlier, Justice Nanavati was appointed to a one-man commission to investigate the 1984 anti-Sikh riots by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in May 2000.
The commission said in its report, submitted in 2005, that there was "credible evidence" against then Union minister and Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, and also pointed to probable roles of various other Congress leaders.
The riots had broken out following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
