2002 Gujarat riots case: Zakia Jafri's petition rejected

Pic Courtesy: PTI

Ahmedabad: Upholding the clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others in 2002 Gulberg Society massacre, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday rejected the petition moved by Zakia Jafri, widow of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri.

Jafri can now approach higher forums for further investigation in the case.

On February 28, 2002, 68 people - including Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress lawmaker – were killed by a mob at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad.

Jafri`s allegations were investigated by a Special Investigating Team or SIT appointed by the Supreme Court in March 2008. Modi was interrogated in 2010 by the SIT for over nine hours.

Clearing PM Modi, the then Gujarat Chief Minister, and 59 others, the SIT in it's closure report said there was no “prosecutable evidence” against Modi.

In February 9, 2012, Jafri along with social activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace moved a petition, challenging the SIT's clean chit to Modi in a lower metropolitan court. It demanded that they be accused on charges of criminal conspiracy behind the riots.

In December 2013, the lower court upheld the SIT's report.

Jafri and the NGO then moved to Gujarat High Court. The hearing in the case had concluded on July 3, 2017.

Jafri's representatives claimed that the lower court had ignored the Supreme Court's guidelines and had not considered the signed statements of witnesses, suggesting conspiracy behind the incidents.