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With its inquiry still about midway, the judicial commission constituted to probe into last year’s communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts is set to get its third extension. The one-man commission led by retired Allahabad High Court judge Vishnu Sahai was constituted on September 9, 2013. It was supposed to submit its report on November 9, 2013.
While the inquiry was underway, the government brought incidents of violence in adjoining Shamli, Baghpat, Meerut and Saharanpur, which followed the Muzaffarnagar riots, into the purview of the commission’s inquiry and extended its tenure by six months — up to May 9, 2014.
With the inquiry was not completed in May, the tenure was further extended up to November 9, 2014.
Sources now confirm that the commission is all set to get another extension of six months, as it is still to record the statements of nearly 100 public witnesses and over 200 official witnesses.
“I cannot say when the report will be submitted as this is a judicial inquiry and we need to hear both sides of each allegation… We have recorded the statements of over 350 public witnesses and are yet to record the statements of 100 more. We will then summon the official witnesses, whose number would be over 200, and record their statements,” Justice (retd) Sahai told The Indian Express.
He said the commission has been conducting the inquiry at a “reasonable” pace.
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