The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others in 2002 Gujarat riots.
Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat
He was reportedly dragged out of his home in north Ahmedabad, beaten up and killed by the mob.
What is the Gulbarg Society massacre?
A day after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people Hindu pilgrims, who were returning from Ayodhya, riots broke out in Gujarat.
Gulbarg Society is located in Chamanpura area in north Ahmedabad.
As the area was gripped by violence during the riots, a bunch of Muslim residents sought shelter in Ehsan Jafri's house.
At least 69 people including Ehsan Jafri lost their lives in the massacre.
Zakia Jafri, who was hiding in a room on the first floor of their house, survived the attack.
The long legal road taken
Zakia Jafri first filed a complaint alleging police inaction on 8 June 2006. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and several ministers in his cabinet were named in the complaint.
In its closure report in 2012, the SIT constituted by the Supreme Court stated that there was no “prosecutable evidence” against Modi and others mentioned in Zakia Jafri's complaint.
The report which was submitted to a magisterial court in Ahmedabad, was accepted.
In June 2016, the trial came to an end with the court convicting 24 persons . While eleven people were convicted for life, one was convicted for 10 years, and the remaining 12 were given seven years of rigorous imprisonment.
But the verdict was no victory for Jafri as both the SIT and the court claimed that a private firing by Ehsan Jafri triggered the mob.
The SIT gave a clean chit to Modi and in 2017, the Gujarat High Court upheld the clean chit. Zakia Jafri moved the top court challenging the Gujarat High Court order.
After years of fighting , the apex court, in November 2018, agreed to hear Zakia Jafri’s plea seeking a review and probe of the SIT’s clean chit.
The case was heard in the apex court, three years later.
