Equal Opportunities Committee, 30 Oct 2001

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Official Report 156KB pdf

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Chhokar Inquiries (Jandoo Report)

Item 7 is the "Report of the inquiry into the liaison arrangements between the police, the Procurator Fiscal Service and the Crown Office and the family of the deceased Surjit Singh Chhokar in connection with the murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar and the related prosecutions" by Dr Raj Jandoo.

We have been discussing this matter since the committee began because it has been going on so long. We now have to decide what to do about Raj Jandoo's report. There are various options. The committee can agree to note the report and take no further action or we can agree to hold a special meeting and take evidence on the report. I suggest that we should hold a special meeting and take evidence on the report. The "Report of an inquiry into Crown decision-making in the case of the murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar" by Sir Anthony Campbell is more about legal competence and one of the justice committees is discussing it.

Before we go on to further discussion, could we agree a course of action?

Last week, I noticed the difficulties that Mr Chhokar had when he was attending the Parliament. It would be more appropriate if we found a date when we could go through to Lanarkshire and make ourselves available to the Chhokar family.

I support that suggestion.

So do I.

The clerks know that the facilities in South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire have been checked out. I do not have a preference.

We should choose whichever venue is most appropriate for the family.

The geography is as broad as it is long. However, I know that South Lanarkshire Council's headquarters were used during the Scottish Qualifications Authority inquiry and the facilities have been checked out. It might be possible to hold the meeting in Motherwell. Perhaps we should leave it to the clerks to decide. It would be appropriate to hold the meeting in Lanarkshire.

I take it that the committee is agreeing to have a special meeting and that the meeting should be held in a location that is as convenient as possible for the Chhokar family. We will ask the clerks to consult with the family and their representatives to find out which venue would be convenient for them and would meet the committee's criteria.

Members indicated agreement.

Do we have an approximate date?

We will have to hold the meeting as soon as possible. I suspect that it will have to be on a Monday as the meeting will be outwith the Parliament. I know that that will not be convenient for everybody but I hope that as many people as possible will attend a special meeting at reasonably short notice.

I cannot do next Monday.

I do not want the committee to get diaries out and discuss dates. We will get back to members and contact them by e-mail so that the meeting can be arranged as soon as possible.

We also need to decide what we want from that meeting.

We need to be clear about the remit of the meeting. We do not want to start another inquiry. If the clerks are going to contact people, particularly the Chhokar family, we need to be clear about what we want to do, how we take evidence and what will happen with the information that we gather.

We do not have the wherewithal and it is not appropriate for us to redo the investigation. We have to reflect on the commitment that we have always given to consider the outcome and take the Chhokar family's views into account. We have to see what gaps remain and determine whether the committee can contribute to the closing of those gaps or whether that can be done only through a public inquiry. If we interpret the remit in that way, we will be on fairly solid ground. However, if we go beyond that, I am not sure that we will achieve much.

We must be clear that we will not be holding another inquiry—that is the bottom line.

The committee will take evidence from various witnesses—they have yet to be decided—and decide whether to make recommendations to the Crown Office. We will not rule anything out from the recommendations that we might make once we have heard the evidence.

Under standing orders, we must ask the Parliamentary Bureau for approval to hold a formal committee meeting outside Edinburgh. I do not envisage any problems with that.

Does the committee agree that the broad areas of questioning should be made available to witnesses prior to the meeting, so that we can have an informed and full discussion? We will not give witnesses the questions that they will be asked; we will give them just the broad areas that we will cover.

If the witnesses know those areas before they come, that will help to define exactly what we will be doing.

We should also contact the Chhokar family and their representatives to advise them of what the committee has agreed.

What about an interpreter?

The same arrangements will be in place as when we were discussing the remit of the report with the law officers. We will make sure that simultaneous translation is available on the day. I presume that the Official Report of the meeting will be translated into different ethnic languages.

It was suggested that the deputy convener, the race reporter, the clerks and I should have a discussion with the Chhokar family and their representatives beforehand, so that we do not come across the same problems that arose when the committee tried to take evidence on the inquiry. Whether that meeting takes place will be up to the family and their representatives. We can make the offer when we write to them to inform them of the committee's actions.

It would be worth while holding that meeting at their convenience, at a location convenient to them.

Yes, we will do that.

Do members have anything else to say on that? Is that course of action agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

We now move into private for items 8, 9 and 10.

Meeting continued in private until 12:05.