- The SIT gave a clean chit to Modi and in 2017, the Gujarat High Court upheld the clean chit.
- Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the SIT, told the bench that the Supreme Court should endorse the trial court and the Gujarat High Court’s decision on Jafri’s plea
- Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JUNE 24
In a morale-boosting for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to the then state Chief Minister Narendra Modi and several others in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The top court upheld the Gujarat High Court order and said Jafri’s plea is “devoid of merit”
A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheswhwari and C T Ravikumar, was hearing Jafri’s appeal challenging the October 5, 2017 Gujarat High Court order upholding the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate Court’s decision to accept the SIT’s closure report, which gave a clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Modi and 63 others in riots-related cases.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the SIT, told the bench that the Supreme Court should endorse the trial court and the Gujarat High Court’s decision on Jafri’s plea otherwise it would result in an endless exercise that could go on because of some motives of social activist Teesta Setalvad, who is Petitioner Number 2 in the petition.
Concluding the arguments, Rohatgi submitted before the bench that nobody had “raised a finger” against it on the probe in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, cited work done by Setalvad’s organisations and added that to paint somebody anti-Gujarat is unfair. Sibal said this is yet another occasion when the majesty of the law is being tested and he is not keen on targeting anybody and emphasized that it was SIT’s task to find out who the offenders were, if any offence has been committed.
He said the matter can be closed, if nobody did it and all this happened without anybody doing it, in the backdrop of the material before the court. “But if you feel that offences have been committed then who is responsible is a matter of investigation,” Sibal said.
The SIT gave a clean chit to Modi and in 2017, the Gujarat High Court upheld the clean chit. Zakia Jafri moved the top court challenging the Gujarat High Court order.
Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.
He said the matter can be closed, if nobody did it and all this happened without anybody doing it, in the backdrop of the material before the court. “But if you feel that offences have been committed then who is responsible is a matter of investigation,” Sibal said.
The SIT gave a clean chit to Modi and in 2017, the Gujarat High Court upheld the clean chit. Zakia Jafri moved the top court challenging the Gujarat High Court order.
Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.
