Zakia Jafri case: When PM Modi had to appear before SIT
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Gujarat riots case. The SC dismissed an appeal filed by Zakia Jafri, the wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, against PM Modi and 63 others, including officials and politicians.
Ehsan was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots. His wife Zakia wanted “the larger conspiracy” behind the riots to be probed.
A three-judge bench, headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar, said there is no merit in Zakia Jafri’s petition while upholding the 2012 order passed by the Gujarat magistrate accepting the SIT report.
WHEN SIT QUESTIONED PM MODI
When the SIT was investigating the case, the then chief minister of Gujarat and incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to appear before the probe team.
The interrogation, set up in Ahmedabad by the Supreme Court over PM Modi’s alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, lasted for nearly eight hours.
In the first phase, there was a morning inquiry followed by a four-hour break, and later in the night, from 9 to 11 pm.
After his interrogation, he said that appearing before the SIT was the perfect answer to all those who started the campaign of defamation against me.
Around 68 questions were asked by the SIT, out of which nearly 60 questions were answered by him. These included questions about the Godhra incident and Gujarat Bandh.
He was also questioned about the meeting which was held on February 27, 2002, by the Chief Minister and other senior officials to review the situation after the Godhra train was burnt.
The SIT also asked him about the call made by Ehsan Jafri to his office. The Congress leader, Jafri, had called the chief minister’s office several times for help after his house was allegedly surrounded by rioters.
ZAKIA JAFRI CASE
A day after the Sabarmati Express’s burning, Ahmedabad’s housing complex Gulbarg Society was attacked by a mob that killed 69 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. Gulbarg Society was a cluster of bungalows and apartment buildings where mostly Muslims lived. Naroda Patiya and Best Bakery were other places where mass killings occurred.
In 2006, Zakia Jafri urged the Gujarat Police to file an FIR against some officials and politicians, including Modi, who was then the state chief minister. She alleged that the state government had not done enough to prevent the riots and save people, including her husband.
SIT’S CLEAN CHIT
In 2008, the apex court appointed an SIT to submit a report on the riot trials and also probe Jafri’s complaint.
In 2012, the SIT gave a clean chit to Modi and others, citing “no prosecutable evidence” and submitted its closure report to the Magistrate.
In 2013, Jafri filed a petition opposing the closure report. The Magistrate upheld SIT’s closure report and dismissed her plea.
She moved the Gujarat High Court which also upheld, in 2017, the Magistrate’s decision. Modi became PM in 2014.
In 2018, Jafri and activist Teesta Setalvad approached the top court, saying the SIT did not examine all the material available, its investigation was biased, and investigators themselves should face a probe.
In 2022, the top court upheld the SIT investigation after reserving its verdict the previous year.
