Post-Godhra riot: Team to start probe

On the basis of the SIT report, to be submitted within three months, the apex court is expected to issue directions on the demand to shift the cases out of Gujarat for trial, reports Rathin Das.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court began its probe into the post-Godhra riot cases on Tuesday morning with a visit to the scenes of some of the worst massacres that shook the state in 2002.

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Delivering its ruling in response to petitions filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the apex court had last month ordered the formation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe 10 of the worst massacres during the bandh called by the VHP following the Godhra train fire killing 59 people on February 27, 2002.

On the basis of the SIT report, to be submitted within three months, the apex court is expected to issue directions on the demand to shift the cases out of Gujarat for trial. Earlier, the SC had shifted the infamous Best Bakery massacre and the Bilkis Bano gang-rape cases to Maharashtra following complaints by human rights activists that the police and public prosecutors in Gujarat were hand-in-glove with the accused, who were subsequently acquitted.