Justice G.T. Nanavati

Justice Girish Thakorlal Nanavati (G. T. Nanavati), born on 17 February 1935 (Wikipedia), was Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court from January 1994 and a judge of the Supreme Court of India from March 1995 until he retired in 2000. He died on 18 December 2021, aged 86 (The Quint). He headed the Nanavati Commission, the 2000 to 2005 inquiry into the November 1984 killings of Sikhs.

The Kishori Lal ruling: On 1 December 1998 a Supreme Court bench of Justices Nanavati and S. Rajendra Babu reduced to life imprisonment the death sentence given to Kishori Lal, convicted of murders in the November 1984 attacks, holding that it was not a case of the “rarest of rare” (LawText). Ensaaf's Twenty Years of Impunity says the two justices found that “the influence of collective fury” mitigated his intent to kill, and wrote that the ruling “provides foresight as to how his final report will read” (pp. 95 and 98 to 99).

The commission

• 8 May 2000: the Government of India issues the notification setting up the commission, to inquire into “the causes and course” of the violence against Sikhs from 31 October 1984 and whether any authorities failed in their duty (pp. 7 to 8). He signed as its chairman and was its only member (The Quint).
• 3 October 2000: first public hearing. The commission received 2,557 affidavits, 1,041 of them from outside Delhi (pp. 10 to 11).
• 9 February 2005: he signs the report (p. 184). The Action Taken Report is tabled in Parliament on 8 August 2005 (The Tribune).

What the report found

• What began as “an angry outburst became an organized carnage”: mobs came armed with kerosene and petrol, Sikhs were persuaded or forced to go indoors and the police took away their arms (pp. 179 to 181).
• He recorded “credible evidence” that Jagdish Tytler “very probably” had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs (p. 153), and “credible material” that Sajjan Kumar and Balwan Khokhar “were probably involved” (p. 162). He found credible evidence that Dharam Dass Shastri instigated attacks (p. 146), and that H. K. L. Bhagat and others were “very probably” involved, but recommended no action against Bhagat because of his condition (p. 167).
• He found Kamal Nath's reply “vague” but said that “in absence of better evidence” he could not say that Nath instigated the mob at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj (p. 141), and he found “absolutely no evidence” that Rajiv Gandhi or any other high-ranking Congress (I) leader suggested or organised attacks on Sikhs, and no delay or indifference at the level of the Home Minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao (pp. 178 and 182).
• On the police he agreed with the findings of the Misra Commission and the earlier committees and, because action had already begun, recommended nothing further against most officers (pp. 182 to 183); he recommended action against Sub-Inspector Hoshiar Singh at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj (p. 144).