Justice Sethna refused to comment on the matter. The retired judge had been in the news after he upheld a Vadodara fast track court order acquitting all accused in the Best Bakery case relating to the 2002 riots. The Supreme Court later ordered a fresh trial in the case by a special court in Mumbai.

Gujarat minister of state for law and parliamentary affairs Amit Shah said the study was required in view of the unfounded allegations made against the state BJP government.

“The inquiry will make it clear when, how and under what circumstances minority population shifted from one area to another,” Shah said.

State government spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas said the matter was neither “sensitive nor provocative”, but it “will bring to surface the unfounded publicity that is being given without being backed by appropriate facts by certain NGOs and a section of the media”.

“This will also put in correct perspective a long-term change that has taken place in demography, nullifying the temporary bias a solitary incidence-based short term interpretation could bring in”, Vyas said.