HC orders panel to give Bhatt access to intelligence records

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court today directed the G T Nanavati Inquiry Commission, probing the 2002 post-Godhra riots, to give suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt access to all intelligence documents pertaining to the riots by Friday.

A High Court bench, comprising Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala, passed an order directing the Commission to let Bhatt inspect the documents, irrespective of whether they are classified or not.

The High Court also directed the Commission to provide Bhat access to those documents by Friday.

Earlier, in 2012, Bhatt and the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court seeking access to Godhra riot-related intelligence records from Gujarat government. The PIL was moved after Gujarat government refused to provide Bhatt with the documents.

"Even after a directive was issued by the High Court during October 2012, my client was not allowed to see many crucial documents by the (Gujarat) government. Later, during 2013, we approached the High Court, once again, to direct the Nanavati Commission to give access to those intelligence documents submitted by Gujarat government," Sanjeev Bhatt's counsel Anand Yagnik said.

"When we approached the Commission, it refused Bhatt from accessing these documents, claiming that they are of a classified nature," Yagnik had said in the court.