He contended that the cases were closed by the Judicial Magistrates who had accepted the closure report filed by police and that the state could not be blamed for it. For further relief, the parties should approach the proper forum, which was the Magistrate’s court or the Gujarat High Court, he said.

However, Salve while referring to the cases in the PIL said they needed to be decided by the apex court because trial in them had been stayed for over two years now.

'CBI unwilling... er willing to probe'

AS hearing began on the NHRC plea for transferring the 10 post-Godhra riots cases out of Gujarat, Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati told the Bench that he had spoken to CBI Director Vijay Shanker who was personally against taking up investigation of these cases for various reasons, including logistics and shortage of staff. He, however, added that the agency would abide by the court's order on this point.

Half-an-hour later, the S-G again stood up, swallowed his earlier words, and said both the Centre and CBI were prepared to assist the court in the matter.