Godhra riots: SC clean chit to Modi
Court dismisses plea by Ehsan Jafri’s wife Zakia, terming it as devoid of merits
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the SIT’s clean chit to the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots in the state, saying there is no “tittle of material” to show the violence after the Godhra train carnage was “preplanned” owing to the criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched at the “highest level” in the state.
Observing that inaction or failure of some officials of one section of the administration cannot be the basis to readily infer a pre-planned criminal conspiracy by the authorities or to term it as a state-sponsored crime against the minority community, the court dismissed a plea by slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri’s wife Zakia, terming it as “devoid of merits”.
Bringing the curtains down on the bid to reopen the probe into the 2002 riots, a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar also spoke of “the devious stratagem to keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design”, and said disgruntled officers of the Gujarat government need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law for creating a sensation by making false revelations. Alleging a larger conspiracy behind the mass violence against Muslims, Zakia had challenged the Gujarat High Court’s October 5, 2017 order rejecting her petition against the finding of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT. The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar, held that the material collected during the investigation does not “give rise to strong or grave suspicion regarding hatching of larger criminal conspiracy at the highest level”.
Feb 27, 2002: 59 Kar-sevaks travelling in Sabarmati Express train, returning from Ayodhya, were allegedly attacked and coaches of the train were set on fire at Godhra Railway Station
Feb 28, 2002: Mob attack inhabitants of Gulberg Society, Meghaninagar, killing 69 persons including the husband of appellant -Zakia Ahsan Jafri -- who had unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade the mob
Mar 6, 2002: Gujarat government appoints a Commission under Commission of Inquiry Act to probe the Godhra incident and the post-Godhra riots
Oct 9, 2003: National Human Rights Commission files a writ petition before SC seeking fair investigation. SC appoints senior advocate Harish Salve as Amicus Curiae
Jun 8, 2006: Zakia Jafri files complaint against Modi and others into the larger conspiracy behind the 2002 riots
Mar 26, 2008: SC appoints a Special Investigation Team headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan
May 1, 2009: Top court vacates stay of the trials and directs the prosecution of cases in Special Courts; and SIT appointed by it to submit progress report
May 6, 2010: SC directs that trial court shall not pronounce the final judgment till further orders by it. Gulberg Society case put on hold after resignation of the Special Public Prosecutor appearing in that case
Sept 11, 2011: SC directs Chairman, SIT to forward a final report, along with the entire material collected , to the court which had taken cognisance of crime
Feb 8, 2012: SIT files closure report giving a clean chit to Modi and 63 others, including senior government officials, saying there was “no prosecutable evidence” against them
Apr 15, 2013: Zakia Jafri files a protest petition in a local court seeking rejection of the SIT report giving a clean chit to Modi and others in the Gulberg Society riot case
Dec 26, 2013: Protest petition rejected by the Metropolitan Magistrate and the final report of the SIT is accepted
Oct 5, 2017: This decision was carried before the HC which rejects Zakia’s plea against the SIT decision
Sep 12, 2018: Zakia moves SC challenging the Gujarat HC order rejecting her plea against the decision of the SIT
Oct 26, 2021: SC begins hearing Zakia’s plea on regular basis
Dec 9, 2021: SC reserves judgement on the plea filed by Zakia
Jun 24, 2022: SC dismisses Zakia’s plea and upholds SIT clean chit to Modi and others