2002 Gujarat riots case: SC dismisses plea against PM Modi, says it is devoid of merits

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the plea of Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to 64 people, including the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.

The top court upheld the Gujarat High Court order and said Jafri's plea is devoid of merit.

What the case is about


On February 28, 2002, in Ahmedabad's Gulberg Society, 68 people were killed, including Ehsan Jafri. This occurred one day after a Sabarmati Express coach in Godhra burned to the ground, killing 59 people and sparking riots in Gujarat.

According to Zakia, since there was a "larger conspiracy" involved in the disturbances, she had approached the Supreme Court.

In her petition to the Supreme Court, Zakia had stated: "Grant ad-interim order to Special Investigation Team (SIT) to carry out a further investigation under section 173(8) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in regard to the petitioner's complaint dated June 8, 2006, and the evidence placed before the learned through the protest petition dated April 15, 2013."

Prior to this, a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar upheld the Special Metropolitan Magistrate's order rejecting Jafri's protest plea against the SIT's closure report.

Provided, the SIT which was appointed by the apex court to conduct the investigation into the case, disagreed with the argument saying that there is a sinister plot behind the complaint to probe the "larger conspiracy" behind the 2002 Gujarat riots and the original complaint by Jafri was directed by social activist Teesta Setalvad, who levelled allegations just in order to stir up controversy.