SC refuses to set aside clean chit to Modi, reconstitute SIT in riots case

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea questioning the clean chit given to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its probe in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A bench comprising justices HL Dattu and SA Bobde declined advocate A Fatima’s plea seeking reconstitution of the SIT by a fresh team of three retired apex court judges, including a person from the minority community.

“Reconstitution of SIT at this stage is not good,” the bench said, referring to the plea questioning the SIT clean chit given to Modi in connection with the Gulbarg Society carnage on February 28, 2002, during Gujarat riots. 37 people, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed in the Gulbarg Society carnage.

After the SC’s remark, Fatima decided to withdraw the petition. The apex court, on April 3, had expressed satisfaction over the progress of nine cases of postGodhra riots in Gujarat probed by the SIT.

“There has been a lot of progress and out of nine cases, six are over and three are almost at final stage,” a bench comprising justices HL Dattu, Ranjana Prakash Desai and MY Eqbal had said.

The SIT had submitted its final report in the apex court in March 2012 regarding Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society riot case giving a clean chit to Modi and others in 2002 riot cases.