SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Before:- D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam, JJ.

Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 109 of 2003 with Crl.M.P. No. 10719/2003 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 7078/2003 in W.P.(Crl.) No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 7827/2003, 8193/2003 and 8194/2003 in W.P.(Crl.) No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 1168/2003 in W.P.(Crl.) No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 11689/2003 in W.P. (Crl)No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 4782/2003 in W.P. (Crl.)No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 3741/2004 and 3742/2004 in W.P. (Crl)No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 6864/2004 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. No. 9236/2005 in W.P. (Crl)No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P.No. 6767 of 2006 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109 of 2003, Crl. M.P. No. 6767/20006 in Crl. M.P. Nos. 3741-3742/2004, Crl.M.P. No. 7824 of 2007 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109 of 2003, Crl.M.P. Nos. 18710 and 18712 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109 of 2003, Crl.M.P. NO. 8392 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109 of 2003, Crl.M.P. Nos. 4757, 4759-4760 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109/2003, Crl.M.P. Nos. 22326 and 22327 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 109/2003, W.P.(Crl.) No. 37-52 of 2002, Crl.M.P. No. 19816 of 2009 in W.P. (Crl.) Nos. 37-52 of 2002, Crl.M.P. No. 9238 and 9239 of 2010 In W.P. (Crl.) Nos. 37-52 of 2002, Crl.M.P. Nos. 8187-8188 of 2010 in W.P.(Crl.) Nos. 37-52 of 2002, Crl.M.P. Nos. 22161 and 22162 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 37-52/2002, Crl.M.P. Nos. 22325 in W.P. (Crl.) No. 37-52/2002, W.P.(Crl.) No. D17953 of 2003, T.P.(Crl.) Nos. 194-202 and 326-329 of 2003, SLP(C) No. 7951 of 2002, SLP(Crl.)No. 4409 of 2003, SLP(Crl.)No. 5309 of 2003, W.P. (Crl.)No. 216 of 2003, T.P.(Crl.) No. 66-72 of 2004, T.P.(Crl.) No. 43 of 2004, W.P.(Crl.)No. 118 of 2003, T.P. (Crl.)Nos. 233-234 of 2004, W.P.(Crl.)No. 284 of 2003, Crl.M.P.No. 4485 of 2006 in SLP(Crl.)No. 3770 of 2003, SLP(Crl.)No. 1088 of 2008, SLP(Cri.)No. 7046 of 2010. D/d. 26.10.2010.

National Human Rights Commission - Petitioners

Versus

State of Gujarat & Ors. - Respondents

For the Petitioners in WP 109/03 :- Harish N Salve, Senior Advocate (A.C.), Bhargava V Desai, Advocate (A.C.), Rahul Gupta, Nikhil Sharma and Ms. Anita Shenoy, Advocates.

For the Petitioner in SLP 1088/08 :- Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Advocate (A.C.)

For the Petitioner in WP D17953/03 :- In person

For the Petitioners :- Mr. S Udaya Kuamr Sagar, Ms. Bina Madhavan, for M/s Lawyers Knit & Co., Advocates, Huzefa Ahmadi, Ejaz Maqbool, Ms. Sakshi Banga,Ms. Garima Kapoor, Naveen R. Nath, Ms. Indu Malhotra, Ms. Shobha, Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Ms. Aparna Bhat, P. Ramesh Kumar and Divyesh Pratap Singh, Advocates.

For the Respondents :- Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Senior Advocate, Mukul Rohtagi, Senior Advocate, State of Sikkim Mr. A Mariarputham, Senior Advocate, Tushar Mehta, AAG, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Bhupendra Yadav, Ms. Jeral, Ms. Sadhana Sandhu, S.S. Rawat, D.S. Mahra, C.D. Singh, A. Venayagam Balan, Dr. Nafis A. Siddiqui, Aparna Bhat, UOI Mr. H.P. Raval, ASG, P.K. Dey, Raghenth Basant, S.N. Terdal, P Parmeshwaran, Ms. Sushma Suri, V.N. Raghupathy, State of Bihar/ Mr. Gopal Singh, Tripura Ms. Ramita Guha, Rituran Biswas, Pondicherry Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Naresh Kr. Sharma, Gopal Prasad, Bimal Roy Jad, State of Assam Mr. Navneet Kumar, M/s. Corporate Law Group, Advocates, Ravindra Kr. Adsure, Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, T.V. George, Orissa Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, T.K. J. Samanta, Mrs. Aruna Mathur, Amarjit Singh Girsa, for M/s. Arputham, Aruna & Co., Advocates, State of Punjab Mr. Kuldip Singh, R.K. Pandey, T.P. Mishra, Sanjay Katyal, and H.S. Sandhu, Advocates.

For impleading in WP 109/03 :- Mr. Vikas Singh, Senior Advocate, party Mr. Braj Mishra, Ms. Aparna Jha, Abhishek Yadav, Vikram, Tara Chandra Sharma, Ms. Neelam Sharma, K.R. Sasiprabhu, Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary, Ranjan Mukherjee, Anil Shrivastav, State of Arun.P. Mr. Rituraj Biswas, D.K. Sinha, Naveen R Nath, Ms. Anita Shenoy, Sanjay R Hegde, KH. Nobin Singh, Sapam Biswajit Meitei, R Satish, P.V. Dinesh, Divya Jyoti, Ms. Jyoti Mehndiratta, S.N. Bhat, Dr. Kailash Chand, Sanjay Jain, Rashmikumar Manilal Vithlani, M/s Parekh & Co, Advocates, Dr. Meera Agarwal, Annam D.N. Rao, Manjit Singh and Kamal Mohan Gupta, Advocates.

For the Respondents in WP 109/2003 :- Dr. Manish Singhvi, AAG for Rajasthan, D.K. Devesh, AMilind Kumar and Sahil S. Chauhan, Advocates.

For the Applicants CRLMP 18710 & 18712 in WP 109/03 :- Mr. D.N. Ray, Lokesh K. Choudhary, Ms. Sumita Ray, State of Mizoram Mr. K.N. Madhusoodhanan, R. Sathish, U.P. Mr. Shail Kr. Dwivedi, Manoj Kr. Dwivedi, S.K. Dwivedi, G. Venkateswara Rao, Ashutosh Kr. Sharma and Mr. Vandana Mishra, Advocates.

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, Section 173(8) - Gujarat riot cases - Restraint order was passed on 6th May, 2010, in all cases, except in (Meghani Nagar Gulbery Society case), in which case trial may proceed but final judgment shall not be pronounced - Trial Courts are now free to pronounce final judgments - Application are disposed of.

[Para 8]

ORDER

SLP(Crl.) No. 1088/2008

1. At the outset, Mr. Prashant Bhushan has expressed unwillingness to continue as the Amicus Curiae and requested that he may be relieved from the case. We accede to the request and appoint Mr. Rohinton Fali Nariman as an Amicus Curiae to assist the Court in this case.

2. Mr. Bhushan states that he will return the papers of the case received from the office in a sealed cover. On receipt of the record, the office shall forward the same to Mr. Nariman. Report dated 20th October, 2010 on further investigation against Shri M.K. Tandan Etc. has been filed by the Chairman and one of the Members of the Special Investigation Team. According to the report, the investigation is likely to be concluded within a fortnight. The report is taken on record.

3. Let the final report be filed before the next date. List on 2nd December, 2010, at 3.00 p.m. for consideration of the reports.

Crl.M.P. No. 22117 and 22115 of 2010 in SLP(Crl.) No. 1088/2008

4. In view of the fact that Mr. Prashant Bhushan has been discharged from the case as Amicus Curiae, both these applications are rendered infructuous and are disposed of accordingly.

Crl.M.P. No. 19816 of 2009 In WP(Crl.) Nos. 37-52/2002

5. In view of the subsequent developments, no further orders are called for in this application and the same is dismissed accordingly.

Crl.M.P. Nos. 22161-22162 of 2010 In WP(Crl.) Nos. 37- 52 of 2002

6. Adjourned sine die.

Crl.M.P. No. 22325/2010 In WP(Crl.) NOs. 37-52 of 2002

7. At this stage, no orders are called for in the application. The application stands disposed of accordingly.

Crl.M.P.NOs. 22326-22327/2010 in WP(Crl.) No. 109/2003

8. In the light of the report of Mr. A.K. Malhotra dated 13th August, 2010 and the submissions of learned Amicus Curiae, we lift the restraint order passed on 6th May, 2010, in all the cases, except in Cr. No. 67 of 2002 (Meghani Nagar Gulbery Society case), in which case the trial may proceed but the final judgment shall not be pronounced. The trial Courts are now free to pronounce the final judgments.

9. The applications are disposed of accordingly.

WP(Crl.) No. 109/2003

10. A report dated 20th October, 2010 has been filed by the Chairman, SIT, indicating the progress in trials in all the cases. The Chairman has stated that the trials are being closely monitored by him and other members of his team. According to the report,the trials in all the cases, on the whole, are proceeding quite satisfactorily.

11. Let a copy of the report be supplied to the learned Amicus Curiae.

12. The report will be taken up for consideration on 2nd December, 2010, at 3.00 p.m.

13. We direct that in future the office shall list only those applications in which specific orders for listing are made. All the disposed of applications shall be detached from the record and shall not be shown in the cause list. The office shall also prepare a complete list of all the pending applications and place before the Court for appropriate orders on the next date.

14. The aforestated two reports filed by the SIT shall be kept in the sealed covers.

SLP(Crl.) No. 7046/2010

15. In the first instance, issue notice to respondent No.1. Ms. Hemantika Wahi waives service of notice on behalf of the said respondent and seeks time to file reply affidavit. Let the needful be done within two weeks with advance copy to the learned counsel for the petitioners and to learned Amicus Curiae. Rejoinder affidavit, if necessary, shall be filed by the next date. Copies of the petition shall also be supplied to Mr. Harish N Salve, the learned Amicus Curiae and the Chairman, SIT for their comments.

16. List on 2nd December, 2010 at 3.00 p.m.

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