SIT Should Be Investigated, Rendered Conclusions Contrary To Facts: Zakia Jafri’s Plea To SC

Congress leader Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in the violence, a day after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.

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New Delhi: In the 2002 communal riots case, Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which gave a clean chit to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, should be investigated for giving conclusions contrary to facts.

Zakia Jafri is the wife of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, during the violence. She has challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 persons including Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister during the 2002 riots in the state.

According to a report by Bar & Bench, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Zakia representing Jafri, told the Supreme court that the SIT did not conduct “investigation” but did a “collaborative exercise” with omissions in the probe to protect conspirators.

“The SIT was rendering conclusions contrary to facts they were aware of. In fact, SIT should be investigated. It is true...I am not concerned with individuals. I am concerned with the process. I am only saying SIT did not do its job. It was an act of protection. It did a collaborative exercise,” he submitted, as quoted in the report.

He also alleged that there were electronic records including call data records of senior police officials and mobs identifying houses of Muslims, pointing towards conspiracy but the SIT ignored all of it and did not conduct any further investigation into the same.

The Magistrate and High Court too chose to overlook the same, he contended.

“No investigation into it at all. The SIT has ignored all of this, Magistrate has ignored all of this, High Court has ignored all of this,” Kapil Sibal said, as quoted by Bar & Bench.

During the hearing, the senior council also stressed how officials of SIT and Police were rewarded handsomely, saying: “All those who collaborated were rehabilitated in a big way. RK Raghavan who headed SIT was made High Commissioner of Cyprus”.

He also pointed to the call data records (CDR) of then Ahmedabad Police Commissioner PC Pandey, saying: “SIT says he was handling dead bodies of Godhra victims but call data records show he was sitting in office whole day long. Is it his job to handle dead bodies? If he was so concerned would he have allowed the bodies to be brought by road from Godhra to Ahmedabad and allowed passions to flare up? PC Pandey was one of the worst collaborators. He later became DGP of Gujarat. The journey from accused to DGP is disconcerting”, Bar & Bench reported.

Kapil Sibal contended that all evidence prima facie points towards conspiracy and who all were involved and why needed further probe.

He further stated that there were statements by individuals belonging to Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which claimed of public prosecutors acting at their behest.

SIT Says No Material To Take Complaint Forward

On the other hand, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Zakia Jafri’s complaint alleging larger conspiracy in the 2002 Gujarat riots was thoroughly examined after which it came to the conclusion that there was no material to take it forward.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the SIT that had probed several cases of the 2002 riots, told a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar that Zakia Jafri’s complaint was examined “threadbare”, news agency PTI reported.

Her complaint was taken up for examination and statements were recorded. Her complaint was thoroughly investigated. SIT came to a conclusion that apart from the charge sheets already filed, there was no material to take forward her complaint of 2006, Mukul Rohatgi told the bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar.

He stated that when the SIT was examining the complaint, it was not an FIR and the team recorded statements of several people in the matter.

The investigation was done thoroughly as per the Supreme Court order. There was no order to register an FIR, he said, as per PTI.

Congress leader Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed in the violence, a day after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.

On February 8, 2012, the SIT filed a closure report giving a clean chit to Narendra Modi, now the Prime Minister, and 63 others including senior government officials, saying there was “no prosecutable evidence” against them.

In 2018, Zakia Jafri had filed a petition in the Supreme court challenging the Gujarat High Court’s October 5, 2017 order rejecting her petition against the SIT decision.

The plea stated that after the SIT gave a clean chit in its closure report before a trial judge, Zakia Jafri filed a protest petition which was dismissed by the magistrate without considering “substantiated merits”.

It also said the high court “failed to appreciate” the petitioner’s complaint which was independent of the Gulberg Society case registered at a Police Station in Ahmedabad.

(With Agency Inputs)