The Nanavati Commission is unlikely to give its report before the end of this year.
The police officers who investigated the case have been transferred out. In India, inquiry commissions are generally viewed with scepticism.
Within the government team of lawyers -- 15 of them, each of who get Rs 8,500 per day -- there are whispers of tussles. Shah, the government prosecutor, and his colleague and public prosecutor Arvind Pandya, it is said, don't see eye to eye. Pandya's assistants say Shah is a fine corporate lawyer, not a criminal lawyer.
As the Modi government begins to get into election mode in coming months, the Nanavati Commission will be further relegated to the backburner.
Meanwhile, the victims have remained silent and patient, thinking that the government will do its job and help them get justice.
The Nanavati Commission has got 43,000 affidavits regarding the riots and has examined 1,016 witnesses so far. The Commission's staff of 30 officials is still classifying the documents, CDs and evidences from riot victims.
The mood within the Commission was aptly summed by Justice Nanavati himself in Gujarati last Friday, when he said, "Have lage che ke koi ne utaval nathi (It seems to me now that nobody is in a hurry)."
Image: Students of the Anjuman-e-Islam high school in Ahmedabad prepare for Republic Day 2007.
Don't miss Part Two of Sheela Bhatt's exclusive reportage: Why Godhra was a conspiracy
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