Ahmedabad: The Supreme Court, while constituting the Special Investigation team (SIT) for post- Godhra riot cases, never ordered it to probe the "larger conspiracy" behind the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat, the inquiry panel`s counsel told a court here Monday.
"The Supreme Court, when it ordered the setting up of SIT to probe nine cases of post-Godhra riots, never desired or ordered us to probe larger conspiracy behind riots, as claimed by Zakia Jafri (a riot victim) in her protest petition," SIT advocate R S Jamuar told Metropolitan Magistrate B J Ganatra.
He was replying to issues raised by lawyers of Jafri during their arguments on the petition filed in protest against SIT report giving a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others for their alleged role in the riots, in which over 1,000 people were killed.
Jafri, whose husband - a former Congress MP - was killed by a violent mob that attacked Gulberg Housing Society here, has demanded that the report be rejected by the court and an order be passed to file a chargesheet against Modi and others in connection with the violence.
Jafri lawyers have claimed the panel had failed to investigate the aspect of larger conspiracy allegedly hatched by the Chief Minister and others.
"The complainant, during the arguments, could not touch upon the main aspect of the investigation on which Supreme Court wanted a probe by SIT...Issues raised in the protest petition neither form part of our investigation nor was desired by the apex court," Jamuar said today.
Citing the series of apex court orders, starting from 2008 when constitution of SIT was ordered, Jamuar said, "I have all the documents to prove they (Jafri`s lawyers) have disregarded everything.
They simply wanted the SIT to carry out investigation as per their dictations and desires."
"Nobody can dispute the fact that SIT was constituted on a petition filed by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and not on the basis of Jafri`s plea. Main responsibilities assigned to SIT were to protect the witnesses, victims and litigants," the counsel maintained.
SIT submissions will continue tomorrow.
PTI
