The Nanavati-Mehta Commission, which has given a clean chit to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots, cannot be similarly cleared for its lack of empathy towards those who were killed. The 1,500-page commission report, without any remorse, states: “There is no evidence to show that these attacks were either inspired or instigated or abated by any minister of the state.” Blaming the police for inefficiency, inadequate number and lack of arms, the commission conveniently ignored police officials’ testimonies that then ministers had patronised the police during and in the wake of the bloodshed. The blood of over 1,000 people, mainly of the Muslim minority community, has yet to be answered for. In the case, the natural course would have been the institution of criminal cases against the mobsters but only to manage public anger and buy time, Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, established a commission of inquiry. The move was to keep the Congress-led federal government from taking any effective action. Later, another inquiry commission also absolved Modi of the allegations of allowing the police to “allow Hindus to vent their anger” after the burning of the Sabramati Express train in 2002. The commission was not mandated with finding the actual gangs who murdered the people, but it even failed to hold the ruling political and administrative circles accountable for the mayhem. Instead, the panel in a way covered up the bloodshed by stating there was no organised violence and no organisation or group carrying out mass killings. The report makes one believe that the massacre was accidental and justifies it as natural consequence of the train fire. The commission report has stirred a debate among the forward looking circles of the nationalist judiciary. The recent verdict on the Babari Mosque was also clearly written by a ‘Hindu’ bench of the Hindu Supreme Court. The Indian judiciary has fast come under public scrutiny because of its predicted, one-sided decisions. The recent draconian Citizen Amendment Bill passed by the Indian parliament, which has attracted worldwide commendation for targeting the Muslim minority, will also pass the judicial test, if challenged. The top Indian court has also provided the Modi government ample time to impose its writ in a plea challenging the unification of India-held Kashmir. *