SC defers hearing on Zakia Jafri plea in 2002 Guj riots case till Nov 26

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing on a plea demanding a “comprehensive investigation” against the then serving ministers of Gujarat and senior bureaucrats for allegedly being part of a larger conspiracy that led to the 2002 riots in the state. The court later adjourned the matter until November 26.

A Justice A M Khanwilkar-led led bench questioned the locus of activist Teesta Setalvad as a petitioner in the case after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) – constituted to probe the riots - said she was never a party to the proceedings either before it or the Gujarat high court.

Setalvad is the second petitioner in the appeal before the top court. Zakia Jafri is the main appellant. Jafri’s husband, Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was among the 68 people killed in the Gulbarg society massacre in Ahmedabad.

The Gujarat high court had last year in October accepted the Supreme Court-appointed SIT’S report declining to probe the conspiracy angle. Both Jafri and Setalvad have appealed against the high court order accepting the SIT’S report.

“How is petitioner two (Setalvad) before us,” Justice Khanwilkar asked the petitioner’s lawyer, senior advocate CU Singh. The counsel replied Setalvad was assisting Jafri. “Where is the question of assistance? You can assist without being a party,” it said. Earlier, SIT’S lawyer, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, said the petitioners should not be allowed to drag the case. “For how long can this go on? The complaint was made in 2002 and your lordships monitored it,” he said.

The top court had set-up the SIT to probe the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Rohatgi objected to Setalvad being a co-petitioner.

During the last hearing, Jafri’s counsel had asked for the issuance of a notice on the ground that the aspect of alleged “larger conspiracy” during the period from February 27, 2002 and May 2002 needs to be looked into. NEW DELHI/GURUGRAM : The Supreme Court on Monday put on hold the trial of the 16-yearold accused who allegedly murdered a 7-year-old boy inside the bathroom of a Gurugram school in September last year.

A bench led by justice Arun Mishra also issued notice to the accused, on a petition filed by the victim’s father, assailing the Punjab and Haryana High Court order that reversed concurrent findings of the subordinate courts, directing the boy to be treated as an adult for the criminal trial.

Allowing the petition of the accused, who challenged the lower court’s verdict, justice Daya Chaudhary had in October this year directed the Juvenile Justice Board to reconsider the matter afresh and give a finding on whether the accused should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult. The court asked the board to consider evidences and contentions proposed by the accused in his petition.

But, in his petition before the top court, the victim boy’s father said the board followed the requisite procedure while coming to a final determination. It even took the assistance of a social welfare officer and a psychologist of a government officer for a preliminary assessment, though the same is not mandatory under the law, his petition said.

Filed by advocate Sushil Tekriwal, the appeal by victim’s father says that the HC verdict virtually directs the board to conduct a trial in the case whereas preliminary assessment under the law is done by the board to assess the capacity of the child to commit and understand the consequences of the alleged offence. The father said sessions court had dismissed the accused’s appeal against the JJB order after its strict scrutiny.