Gulbarg case: Zakia Jafri files plea against SIT report

Ahmedabad: Zakia Jafri, the widow of slain Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri, and Teesta Setalvad-led Citizens for Justice and Peace filed an application in the Metropolitan Court in Ahmedabad on Thursday stating that they have an apprehension that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has not filed the complete report in the Gulbarg Society massacre case as directed by the Supreme Court.

The petitions have been filed by Setalvad and lawyer Mukul Sinha seeking the copies of the SIT report filed in the Gulbarg case. Metropolitan Magistrate MS Bhatt said that he would study the report and then pass appropriate order in the case while issuing a notice to the SIT in the case.

The petitioners allege that amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran's statements and findings have not been included in the report as it were different from that of the SIT's. Citizen for Justice and Peace's lawyer SM Vora said that they want the entire SIT report should be placed before the court.

"We feel the entire report has not be submitted. We requested the court to open the sealed report. We have asked the court to see if the entire report has been submitted as directed by the Supreme Court. The next date of hearing is February 13," said Vora.

After the SIT placed its report before the court in which it found no prosecutable evidence against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Zakia said that she would fight back.

"I am really dissapointed with this report and I will not sit back with the report. We will consult our lawyers and then fight back," she said.

Her husband Ehsan Jafri was among the 69 people killed in the Gulbarg Society during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The final report was submitted in a sealed envelope by SIT officials in the Ahmedabad court as directed by the Supreme Court.

Around 1,200 people were killed in the communal riots in the state following the torching of S6 bogie of the Sabarmati Express train near Godhra station on February 27, 2002 in whicvh at least 59 karsewaks returning from Ayodhya were burnt to death.

A petition was filed against Modi and 62 others by Zakia Jafri demanding his prosecution in the riots that followed the Godhra carnage.

The SIT report was submitted on a day when the Gujarat High Court dealt a major blow to the Modi government censuring it for "inaction and negligence" during the riots, holding that this had resulted in an "anarchic" situation.

On September 12, 2011, the Supreme Court had refused to pass any order on Modi's alleged inaction to contain riots in 2002 and left it to the concerned magistrate's court to decide the course of action against him on the basis of the SIT report.

The apex court was hearing a petition by Zakia alleging that Modi and 62 top government officials deliberately refused to take action to contain the state-wide riots in 2002.

The Supreme Court had further said in case the magistrate decided to drop proceedings against Modi and others, he had to hear the plea of Zakia, who had filed a complaint against the Gujarat Chief Minister and others.

Jafri had told the apex court that a proper probe should be carried out by the SIT, headed by former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief RK Raghavan, into her allegations of inaction and various acts of omission and commission by Modi and others during the riots.

The apex court in 2009 had earlier handed over the task of probing the case to SIT which submitted its report in 2011.

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