On Thursday, the Apex Court reserved its order on a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of Ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to PM Narendra Modi and several others in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A Bench headed by Justices AM Khanwilkar reserved its order after
both sides concluded their arguments in the case. The Bench granted one
week time to parties to submit notes & other documents.
Ehsan Jafri was among 69 people killed during the violence at the
Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on Feb 28, 2002. Zakia Jafri has challenged
the SIT's clean chit to 64 people including Narendra Modi who was the
Gujarat Chief Minister during the riots in the State.
Senior Lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing Jafri, has told the Bench also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari & CT Ravikumar, that they have not argued at all about any alleged involvement of the former chief minister & they are on the issue of a larger conspiracy which was not probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
SIT has opposed the plea of Jafri saying there is a sinister plot behind the complaint to probe the "larger conspiracy" behind the 2002 Gujarat riots and the original complaint by Jafri was directed by social activist Teesta Setalvad, who levelled allegations just to keep the pot boiling.
Setalvad had also challenged an Oct 2017 order of the High Court of Gujarat refusing to reopen the closure report of the SIT. "
The SIT, appointed by the Supreme Court, had conducted the investigation into the case & gave a clean chit to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, other top politicians & bureaucrats. The clean chit was given citing lack of "prosecutable evidence" against them.
Challenging the Gujarat High Court's order dated Oct 5, 2017, that upheld SIT's clean chit, Zakia had approached the Supreme Court alleging a "larger conspiracy" in the riots. The Gujarat High Court had upheld the magisterial court's order, accepting the SIT's closure report.
Earlier, Zakia had approached the Gujarat High Court in 2014 after the magisterial court rejected the petition challenging the SIT report.
In her petition to the Supreme Court, Zakia had stated: "Grant ad-interim order to Special Investigation Team (SIT) to carry out further investigation under section 173(8) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in regard to the petitioner's complaint dated June 8, 2006 & the evidence placed before the learned through the protest petition dated April 15, 2013."
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(With input from news agency language)
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