Ahmedabad: The Gujarat unit of Congress on Tuesday
demanded that the Supreme Court-appointed special
investigation team prosecute Chief Minister Narendra Modi for
his alleged role in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
GPCC President Arjun Modhwadia made the demand in a letter
to SIT chief RK Raghavan.
SIT is currently preparing the final report on the
complaint against Modi and others, to be submitted to a
magistrate's court, as ordered by the Supreme Court.
"I do not know how you can avoid taking cognisance of
facts and evidence related to the charge against Modi and all
those government officials, who intentionally violated
statutory stipulation about handing over of dead bodies
involved in crime/accident (Godhra train burning)," Modhwadia
said in the letter.
"Those responsible for all these acts of commission and
omission are liable to be charged under section 166, 186, 187
read with section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Your
action of exonerating Narendra Modi and his supporters will
make Indian criminal justice system a subject of ridicule in
the eyes of the whole world," Modhwadia said.
The Congress leader also said that decision of the state
government to bring the bodies of 59 victims of Godhra train
incident to Ahmedabad led to a communal frenzy, as the bodies
were put on display, resulting in the riots.
The complaint against Modi was filed by Jakia Zafri, widow
of the slain Congress MP Ehssan Zafri.
A similar demand - that SIT prosecute Modi - was made
earlier by former police officers RB Sreekumar and Sanjiv
Bhatt.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 00:21