P. B. Sawant (30 June 1930 – 15 February 2021) was an Indian judge of the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

. After obtaining his law degree (LL.B.) from

Bombay University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

, Sawant started practicing as an advocate initially at the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

and later at

. In 1973, he was appointed Judge of the Bombay High Court; among his notable acts was an inquiry on the Air-India aircraft crash in June 1982. He was appointed justice in the Supreme Court in 1989. Since his retirement in 1995, he was active in public affairs. In 2002, he served with retired justice Hosbet Suresh on an Indian People's Tribunal headed by justice V. R. Krishna Iyer to investigate the

2002 Gujarat riots The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Godhra train burning, burning of a train in Godhra on 27 Fe ...

. Their report includes testimony of the then Gujarat

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) minister Haren Pandya (since murdered), who testified about a meeting convened by

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

on the evening of the Godhra train burning. At this meeting, officials were instructed not to obstruct the Hindu rage following the incident. The report also highlighted a second meeting, held in Lunawada village of Panchmahal district, attended by state ministers Ashok Bhatt, and Prabhatsinh Chauhan, and other BJP and RSS leaders, where "detailed plans were made on the use of kerosene and petrol for arson and other methods of killing." Sawant chaired the P. B. Sawant commission constituted on 1 September 2003 to investigate corruption charges against 4 ministers of the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...

, namely, Nawab Malik, Padmasinh Patil, Suresh Jain and Vijaykumar Gavit. He submitted his report on 23 February 2005, which indicted Nawab Malik, Padmasinh Patil and Suresh Jain but exonerated Vijaykumar Gavit. It resulted in the resignation of two state cabinet ministers, Suresh Jain and Nawab Malik.

References

External links

Report of Justice P. B. Sawant Commission of Enquiry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawant, P. B. 1930 births 2021 deaths Justices of the Supreme Court of India University of Mumbai alumni Judges of the Bombay High Court 20th-century Indian judges 21st-century Indian judges Place of birth missing Place of death missing