SC allows ex-MP`s widow to file new plea in Gulberg case

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled out that Zakia Jafri, widow of 2002 post-Godhra riots victim, would be entitled for entire SIT report barring comments of its chief.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday permitted a killed former Congress MP`s widow to file a fresh petition challenging the SIT`s closure report on Gulberg Society carnage during the 2002 riots. The SIT (Special Investigation Team) had probed allegations of inaction by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials during the carnage at the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad where former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri was killed along with 68 others.

A bench of Justice P.Sathasivam, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai directed that Zakia Nasim Jaffri be supplied with the entire report of the court-appointed SIT so that she could file her protest petition. Zakia is the widow of Ehsan Jaffri. "We clarify that the petitioner is entitled to entire inquiry report placed in sealed envelope before this court on May 12, 2010," the court said in its order. Permitting her to file a protest petition within two months of receiving all the material, the court, however, said that she would not be supplied with the comments of SIT chief and former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director R.K.Raghvan on the closure report. Allowing Zakia to file a fresh petition, the court also set aside the July 16 and Nov 27, 2012, orders of the Ahmedabad magistrate`s court. Zakia had moved the apex court contending that the magistrate`s court has not given her all the documents that the SIT had relied upon while filing the closure of its investigation into her complaint. The apex court Jan 17 asked the Ahmedabad court not to pronounce it orders on the closure report filed by the SIT into the allegation of inaction. Zakia had contended that the denial of all the documents by the magistrate court that SIT had relied upon for filing its closure report was contrary to the Sep 12, 2011, order of the apex court. This order said that if the SIT believes there is no sufficient evidence or reasonable grounds for proceeding against any person named in Zakia`s complaint, the court "shall issue notice to the complainant and make available to her copies of the statements of the witnesses, other related documents and the investigation report strictly in accordance with law". IANS