Former SC Judge GT Nanavati, Who Headed Gujarat and Anti-Sikh Riots Panels, Dies

Nanavati was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India in March 1995, and retired in 2000.

He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India in March 1995, and retired in 2000.

(Photo: PTI File Photo)

Justice (retired) Girish Thakorlal Nanavati, who headed commissions probing the 2002 Gujarat riots and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, passed away on Saturday, 18 December. He was 86 years old and a resident of Ahmedabad.

Justice Nanavati was an advocate in the Bombay High Court since 1958. He was appointed as a permanent judge in Gujarat High Court almost 21 years later in July 1979. In 1993, he was transferred to the Orissa High Court.

He was appointed Chief Justice of Orissa High Court in January 1994. He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India in March 1995, and retired in 2000.

A commission headed by Justice Nanavati looked into the Godhra train burning incident, which subsequently led to the Gujarat riots. The commission gave a clean chit to the then Chief Minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his council of ministers and the cops. His commission had not summoned Modi even once during the course of its hearings.

Prior to that, Nanavati was appointed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He was the only member of the Nanavati commission, probing the incident.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)