In a U-turn on its interim report on the 2013 communal violence in Kishtwar, the Justice R.C. Gandhi Commission in its follow-up report has indicted former Minister of State for Home in Jammu and Kashmir Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo for fomenting the riots. Three persons were killed and over 80 injured in the violence that started during Eid in August 2013.
The same commission had exonerated Mr. Kitchloo in its interim report that came out in December 2013 during the National Conference-Congress rule. The interim report, a copy of which is with The Hindu , had found no evidence to hold Mr. Kitchloo responsible and suggested that his life was in danger during the violence. The follow-up report, however, indicts the NC leader along with around 60 senior civil and police officers for the communal clashes.
The followup report was raised in the Assembly on Sunday by BJP MLAs who sought the arrest of Mr. Kitchloo for “his involvement in the riots” and of former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for “giving statements which misled the Assembly and the people.”
“The government did receive the follow-up report from the commission earlier this month which holds Mr. Kitchloo responsible for the violence, but the government has not seen the report yet and we cannot say anything about it,” PDP’s chief spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Naeem Akhtar told The Hindu .
Mr. Kitchloo said he was surprised at the findings of the report and alleged that the commission has buckled under political pressure. “The political dispensation has changed and this commission is now speaking the BJP’s language,” he told The Hindu .
“How else it is possible that I am exonerated and almost praised in the interim report and then found guilty in the followup report and no one from the BJP who benefited from the violence politically finds a mention there?” the NC leader asked.
He said the “criminal turncoat behaviour” of the R.C. Gandhi Commission has not only “damaged beyond repair the credibility of the report but of the commission itself.” Justice Gandhi maintained that he based his report on the evidence collected during the investigation.
