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More probe into Gujarat riots will be travesty of justice, Supreme Court told
The petition was filed by Zakia Ahsan Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad during the communal riots, in which over 1,000 people lost their lives.
Ordering any further probe into an alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2002 Gujarat riots will amount to a travesty of justice, the Gujarat government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday in response to a petition contesting the clean chit given by the special investigation team (SIT) to 63 people. The list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister at the time.
The petition was filed by Zakia Ahsan Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad during the communal riots, in which over 1,000 people lost their lives.
“The role of the state government was gone into in detail by a commission of inquiry (CoI) headed by a judge of this court. In the name of the first petitioner (Zakia), the second petitioner (social activist Teesta Setalvad) wants to keep the pot boiling by seeking further investigation which I state will be a travesty of justice that should not be encouraged by this court,” solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, said on Tuesday.
Mehta added that the state did everything it could in those circumstances by calling in the army in time and issuing orders to prevent law and order situations. This was noted by the Commission of Inquiry. “Now at the behest of the second petitioner, any further exercise of power by this Court would not be in the public interest.”
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Zakia and Setalvad, responded to the argument by saying: “If you stoke the fire, the pot will boil, and if you keep stoking the fire, the pot will continue to boil.” Sibal contended that the SIT did not do a fair job as it shielded some of the accused, and doubted the state’s argument that all steps were taken by the administration to control the riots.
Sibal also referred to arguments by the SIT counsel, Mukul Rohatgi who said there was no violence in the state till the afternoon of February 28, 2002, when the riots had begun. “If there was no violence till 1 o’clock, why then did you ask for the army at 2 o’clock? There is evidence that violence commenced on February 27 itself. That is why we argued that SIT should probe the buildup to the riots.”
In September 2011, the top court directed the SIT to examine Zakia Jafri’s complaint against the state functionaries alleging conspiracy in the riots. The SIT, headed by former CBI director RK Raghavan, concluded there was no larger conspiracy and filed a closure report before a Gujarat court in 2012. Jafri challenged the closure before a trial court, which dismissed her plea. Later, in October 2017, the Gujarat high court refused to entertain the petition challenging the closure of the SIT. This order was then challenged before the top court by Zakia and Setalvad 2018.
