After clean chit, probe panel ‘indicts’ ex-minister Kichloo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 31

The final report of the one-man Judicial Commission that probed the 2013 communal violence in Kishtwar town has come under a cloud after it reportedly indicted former Minister of State for Home and National Conference legislator Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo.

Eyebrows are being raised in social and political circles over the recommendations of the commission, headed by retired High Court Justice RC Gandhi, which has indicted 60 persons, including Kichloo and senior IAS and IPS officers who were at the helm of affairs at the time of the riots.

The government is yet to make the report public but its recommendations, carried by a section of the media, have already set off a political storm in the state.

In the past two days, the BJP created ruckus in both Houses of the state legislature, demanding Kichloo’s arrest.

Kichloo was given a clean chit by the commission in its interim report on December 21, 2013. He had to resign from the Council of Ministers in the Omar Abdullah-led government on “moral grounds” following his alleged failure in controlling the violence.

He had got “relief” when the commission gave him a clean chit and he was re-inducted into the Council of Ministers. He was in town when communal violence took place in Kishtwar town.

Kichloo, while talking to reporters at the state legislature complex, expressed surprise over the report and said, “I don’t think the Gandhi Commission has indicted me. How is it possible? He had given me a clean chit in the interim report. People should read both reports and then draw a conclusion.”

A senior retired police officer, who wished not to be named, also questioned the different versions of the commission and said, “It is surprising that one commission has given two different reports, if we believe what has appeared in a section of the media. How can one commission give two reports with different versions?” he asked.

Three people were killed and more than 100 business establishments, including shops, were set afire by rioters following communal clashes after the Eid prayers in Kishtwar town on August 9, 2013.

In its interim report, the commission had held that Kichloo was a victim rather than an accused in the communal flare up in Kishtwar.

Minister of State for Revenue and Kishtwar MLA Sunil Sharma said: “Not only Kitchloo, but also the then Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, should be arrested for giving statements misleading the Assembly and the people,” he said.

Senior Congress legislator Ghulam Nabi Monga, while talking to mediapersons, also questioned the report of the commission, saying justice seems to keep the rulers of the government happy. “How can you declare somebody innocent in the interim report and accused in the final report?” he asked.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Basharat Bukhari said the government had not gone through the report so far.

“Let’s first go through the report. We have not seen the report,” he said.