Why Zakia Jafri Challenged SIT’s Clean Chit to Modi in Guj Riots

Zakia Jafri had approached trial court and the Gujarat High Court to file a plea against SIT’s clean chit to PM Modi

Zakia Jafri’s petition challenged a lower court order that gave a clean chit to the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

(Photo: Image Altered by The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 13 November, said it will hear the petition filed by Zakia Ehsan Jafri, wife of late Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, on 19 November, challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, when he held the chief minister’s office.

Ehsan Jafri was among 68 people who were killed at the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad when a mob attacked it on 28 February 2002, a day after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express returning from Ayodhya at Godhra was burned, triggering the riots in Gujarat.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Deepak Gupta said the matter will be heard on 19 November, as the court was yet to go through the petition in detail.

During the brief hearing, senior advocate CU Singh, appearing for Jafri, said notice needs to be issued in the plea as it pertains to the aspect of ‘larger conspiracy’ during the period from 27 February 2002 and May 2002.

He also maintained that after the SIT gave a clean chit in its closure report in the case before a trial judge, a protest was filed by the petitioner, which was dismissed by the magistrate without considering the ‘substantiated merits’.

“The present Special Leave Petition is filed before this Court against the final judgment and order dated 5 October 2017 passed by the High Court of Gujarat...which erroneously upheld the order of the magistrate accepting the closure report filed by the Special Investigative Agency appointed by this Court concerning the violence in Gujarat in 2002,” said Zakia Jafri in her plea before the Supreme Court.

The Quint revisits the pages of history to lay down the sequence of events that led to the apex court’s decision on hearing Zakia Jafri’s plea against the SIT report.

The Gulbarg Massacre

The ancestral home of Zakia Jafri, at the Gulbarg Society. (Photo: Reuters)

On 27 February 2002, the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was set ablaze by a mob near Godhra Railway Station in Gujarat, killing 58 Kar Sevaks, who were returning from Ayodhya. This incident sparked off the Gujarat riots, which engulfed the state, inciting violence and arson for the next three days.

On 28 February 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express was torched in Godhra, angry mobs took to the streets of Ahmedabad. In Chamanpura area of Ahmedabad, over 300 members of the Muslim community took shelter in Gulbarg Society; Gulbarg Society was home to former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.

The victims of the Gulbarg Massacre hoped that the political status of Jafri could protect them from the rioters. However, around 65 persons were killed in Gulbarg society by the mob including Ehsan Jafri, who was hacked and burned to death.

According to witnesses, Ehsan Jafri had made several calls to the police department, the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, and the Union Home Minister to send help, before the mob breached the boundary walls of the society and went on a killing spree.

The Case History

On 8 June 2006, Zakia Jafri filed a complaint alleging that the police had not registered the FIRs against the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and others including several ministers.

In her complaint Zakia Jafri had alleged a conspiracy to allow the massacre of Muslims, which involved instructing policemen and bureaucrats to not respond to pleas for help from Muslims being attacked during the riots. The complaint also included names of VHP leaders Praveen Togadia and Jaideep Patel, the then DGP of Gujarat PC Pandey for abetting the riots.

When Zakia Jafri approached the Gujarat High Court on 3 November 2007 with her complaint, the HC refused to hear her plea and directed her to file the case before a Magistrate’s court.

However, on 26 March 2008, the Supreme Court, constituted the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by former CBI Chief RK Raghavan and included former DG of UP Police CD Satpathy and three IPS offices from Gujarat cadre – Geeta Johri, Shivanand Jha and Ashish Bhatia – as its members.

The SIT was directed to submit its report to the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Ahmedabad.

Eventually on 27 April 2009, the SC directed the SIT to probe Narendra Modi’s alleged role in the post-Godhra communal riots of 2002.

Gulbarg Society Case Trial

In March 2010, the SC stayed the Gulbarg Society case trial after special public prosecutor RK Shah resigned, accusing the trial judge and the SIT of going “soft on the accused”. Eventually the trial restarted at a special court with a Supreme Court-monitored SIT acting as prosecution.

On 18 June 2016, the court convicted 24 persons; 11 were convicted for life, 1 convicted for 10 years and the remaining 12 given seven years of rigorous imprisonment. The judgment, however, reiterated that it was the private firing by Ehsan Jafri that acted as a catalyst and which infuriated the mob to such an extent that the mob went out of control.

HC Upholds SIT Report

In December 2013, the metropolitan magistrate's court rejected Zakia Jafri's petition against the SIT report, after which she moved the high court in 2014.

In August 2015, the Gujarat High Court began hearing Zakia Jafri’s petition, where her counsel told the court that neither the SIT nor the magistrate's court considered the first interim probe report of SIT.

On 5 October 2017, the Gujarat High Court rejected Zakia Jafri's plea challenging a lower court order upholding the SIT's clean chit to the then chief minister Narendra Modi and others on the allegation of a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Jafri’s son, Tanvir Jafri, however, termed the ruling as a victory, as the court allowed the petitioners to approach an appropriate forum to seek reinvestigation.

SC Relents, Agrees To Hear Jafri’s Plea

Finally on 13 November 2018, the Supreme Court agreed to Zakia Jafri’s plea seeking probe into SIT’s clean chit issued to Narendra Modi and others. The Supreme Court bench also noted the office report's remarks that the plea should be tagged along with the pending criminal appeals in the case.

Senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for Gujarat government opposed the suggestion and said that it is a separate case and should not be tagged along with the criminal appeals. The state government advocate also opposed issuing of a notice in the plea.

Zakia’s plea stated that the high court order be set aside as “it failed to appreciate that the then chief minister and other prominent members of the political right wing made inflammatory speeches, the Home Department turned a blind eye towards various SIB reports for prosecuting certain VHP office bearers and publishing houses for propagating an incendiary rhetoric which would amount to an offence under IPC”.

Zakia sought an interim order to the SIT to carry out further investigation with regard to her complaint and the evidence provided by her before the magistrate through the protest petition.

(With inputs from PTI)