Gandhinagar : The Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court on Thursday rejected the petition filed by Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ahsaan Jafri, against the clean chit given by the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots.
Metropolitan Magistrate BJ Ganatra read out his one line order late in the afternoon stating that the protest petition stands rejected and the appellant may approach a higher court.
Satyamev Jayete: Modi
“Truth alone triumphs!” This is how Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi reacted to an Ahmedabad court’s verdict rejecting a protest petition filed against the clean chit given to him by the Supreme Court-appointed team in the 2002 communal riots. “Satyamev Jayete! Truth alone triumphs,” Modi tweeted.
The verdict came as a political shot in the arm for the BJP prime ministerial candidate, eliciting gleeful reactions both in the real world as well as in cyberspace.
Modi’s detractors, however, made it clear that the celebrations may be a trifle premature as they intend to take the matter to its logical end. However for the moment the Gujarat chief minister stands redeemed.
On February 28, 2002, Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was attacked by a mob at Gulberg Society, a cluster of 29 bungalows and 10 apartment buildings housing mostly Muslims.
The mob breached the boundary wall and torched houses. Jafri was dragged out, hacked and burnt to death, along with 68 others.
His frantic phone calls to police officers and senior politicians for help allegedly went unanswered.
In 2006, Zakia Jafri filed a complaint alleging that the police had not registered FIRs against Modi, several ministers and top officials. The police refused to register the complaint.
Two years later, the Supreme Court gave her reason to hope when it ordered the Modi government to reinvestigate nine riot cases, including the Gulberg society massacre.
The 74-year-old widow, who was present in the court, broke down after the verdict was pronounced and said she will appeal against it in the higher court.
Zakia had essentially contested the 541-page report of the SIT, headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan, which gave a clean chit to Modi stating that he took all possible steps to control the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
The Army was also summoned in time to contain the communal violence, the SIT had concluded.
The court also agreed with SIT that there was no evidence to suggest that there was a conspiracy on part of the chief minister and his cabinet to delay calling in the army to check the riots. The magistrate said, “The court finds it difficult to accept that Modi deliberately ignored his duty during the riots.”
Reacting to the verdict, Raghavan said he felt “vindicated” and “professionally satisfied”.
In April 2011, Sanjiv Bhatt, a senior police officer, charged that at a meeting on February 27 in 2001 Modi told him and other cops to allow Hindus in the state to exact revenge for the killing of 59 karsevaks on the Sabarmati Express near Godhra.
The court has in its 440-page order concurred with the SIT that Bhatt’s testimony is not reliable and affirmed that no evidential value can be attached to the testimonies given by Bhatt and two other IPS officers — R B Sreekumar and Rahul Sharma — whom Zakiae had cited as witnesses.
SIT had concluded that these officers held a grudge against the state government and accused them of conspiring to fabricate evidence to “malign” Modi.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley, a Modi camp follower, was quick to Tweet his reaction.
“The Congress Party and its sponsored NGOs are unable to fight Narendra Modi politically. They used falsehood in court against him but failed. Modi goes into the 2014 campaign untainted by propaganda. The verdict has proved that propaganda can never be a substitute for truth”.
The opposition was equally unrelenting. “We propose to knock at the doors of the higher judiciary,” said Zakia reacting to the verdict. “Disappointed by the order but not disheartened,” added her son Tanvir making clear their resolve. “We will be back with an appeal at the earliest,” declared Mihir Desai, Jaffri’s lawyer.
RK MISRA
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