SC gives breather to Narendra Modi on Jafri murder case

Mangalore Today / PTI

New Delhi, Sept 12: In a breather to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court today refused to pass any order on his alleged inaction to contain the 2002 Gujarat riots after the Godhra carnage and referred the matter to the concerned magistrate in Ahmedabad for a decision. A three-judge bench headed by Justice D K Jain directed the SIT, which is probing the riot cases, to submit its final report before the magistrate who was asked to decide whether to proceed against Modi and 63 others, which includes senior government officials.

 

 

The bench made it clear that there was no need for it to further monitor the riot cases.The bench also comprising justices P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam said in case the magistrate decides to drop proceedings against Modi and others, he has to hear the plea of slain MP Ehsan Jafri’s widow Zakia Jafri, who had filed a complaint against the Gujarat Chief Minister.

The court passed the order on a petition by Zakia Jafri alleging that Modi and 62 top government officials deliberately refused to take action to contain the state-wide riots, triggered by the February 27, 2002 Godhra train carnage.Jafri, who lost her husband Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP in Gulberg Housing Society massacre during riots, had told the apex court that a proper probe should be carried out by the SIT, headed by former CBI chief R K Raghavan, into her allegations of inaction and various acts of omission and commission by Modi and others after the riots.

The apex court had earlier handed over the task of probing the case to SIT which submitted its report in the court.After the SIT filed its probe report in a sealed cover, the court had also asked senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who is assisting it as amicus curie, to analyse the SIT probe findings and file a confidential report on it.

Ramachandran subsequently had submitted his report to the court, which passed the order after going through the reports by SIT and Ramachandran and referred the case back to the concerned Ahmedabad magistrate to decide the further course of action in the case.

In Ahmedabad, expressing disappointment over the Supreme Court order in the 2002 Gulburg Society riots case, Zakia Jafri, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the disturbance, said the real culprits are still roaming free.

“I still have faith in the Supreme Court, but some things have been missed out,” Zakia, whose husband was killed in Gulburg Housing Society massacre, told reporters at her residence in Surat.

“It has been nearly 10 years since the incident. People have been arrested and trial was on against them. However, the real culprits, who were behind the riots are still roaming free,” she said.

Zakia had filed a complaint against Modi and others in the Gulburg Society riots case, based on which, the apex court had asked the SIT to investigate.

Final hearing in the case was on in the special trial court here presided by Judge B J Dhandha. PTI