Zakia Jafri row: Court upholds SIT clean chit to Narendra Modi

AHMEDABAD: BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi cleared a significant hurdle in the run up to the general elections when a local court on Thursday upheld a special investigation team report that had given a clean chit to the Gujarat chief minister in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, part of the horrific post-Godhra riots that ravaged the state in 2002.

Modi tweeted soon after “Truth alone triumphs”, while his party colleague Arun Jaitley summed up the mood within the Sangh Parivar: “Modi goes into the 2014 campaign untainted by propaganda. The verdict has proved that propaganda can never be a substitute for truth.”

Zakia Jafri, whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in the massacre, had filed a protest petition early this year objecting to the Supreme Court-appointed SIT’s closure report absolving Modi of complicity in any conspiracy behind the carnage. According to reports, the 74-year-old widow broke down in the court after hearing the verdict, while her son Tanveer Jafri said they would now approach a higher court.

The Gulbarg massacre happened on February 28, 2002, when a mob attacked the housing society in Chamanpura, Ahmedbad, which was home to upper-middle class Muslim business families.



As the mob surrounded the society, residents took refuge in Jafri’s house. It’s been alleged that the police ignored repeated calls from the former MP to provide protection. Human rights activist Teesta Setalvad who has been representing the 2002 riot victims in courts said she was disappointed but not disheartened.

“We believe that there was on the records of this court enough evidence to prosecute Modi for high-level criminal conspiracy. The three or four-tier system of justice is deigned to correct wrongs. We will soldier on,” she told ET.

“The only hurdle in the acceptance of SIT’s recommendations was the protest petition and the protest petition was rejected, obviously the SIT report has been accepted. So, SIT’s investigation, integrity, impartiality, all have been given a judicial stamp,” RS Jamuar, SIT’s counsel, told reporters after the verdict.

Gujarat government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas said the ruling vindicated the state government. “The SIT worked independently under the SC and was in no manner being influenced by the state. Their allegations were baseless,” he said.