The Supreme Court reserves its verdict on Zakia Jafri and Teesta Setalvad’s petition seeking fresh investigations into the post-Godhra 2002 Gujarat riots on their allegations about a larger conspiracy involving politicians and police.
The bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheswari and C.T. Ravikumar heard the matter today. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Jafri, told the bench that they have not argued at all about any alleged involvement of the former Chief Minister (the then CM Narendra Modi) and they are on the issue of a larger conspiracy, which was not probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Gujarat government, contended that guilty of the 2002 riots have not gone unpunished as trials have taken place and depending on the merits, the accused have been either convicted or acquitted in these cases.
Mehta said the petitioners have alleged in their argument that following the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident and the resultant riots which took place in Gujarat, the state government did not take any steps. He relied on the Report of the Commission of Enquiries set up by the State with respect to the 2002 riots.
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Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the SIT, argued that there is no larger conspiracy behind Gujarat riots and there is no need to keep this pot boiling. The S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat in 2002. Ehsan Jafri, the former MP, was among the 68 people killed in the violence, a day after the Godhra incident.
On February 8, 2012, the SIT had filed a closure report giving a clean chit to Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister, during the riots in Gujarat and 63 others including senior government officials. Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, has challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 people including Narendra Modi.
Zakia Jafri had filed a petition in the Apex Court in 2018 challenging the Gujarat High Court’s October 5, 2017 order rejecting her plea against the SIT decision.