Supreme Court has adjourned the plea of slain MP Ehsan Jafri’s wife challenging the clean chit given to then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and 63 others in connection to the 2002 Gujarat riots by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The matter has been adjourned by two weeks.
After the petitioner circulated a letter seeking adjournment in the case, the three-judge bench comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, and Justice Krishna Murari had posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.
The petitioner’s husband, Ehsan Jafri was a Congress MLA. He was among the 68 people killed at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, a day after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt at Godhra killing 59 people and triggering riots in Gujarat.
On March 16, the top court had scheduled the hearing on Tuesday with a warning that it would not entertain any more requests for the adjournment in the matter.
The bench considered the request made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal who is appearing for the Zakia Jafri, last month. He had requested to hear the matter in April citing the reason that many advocates are busy in the Maratha reservation case.
The plea seeking adjournment was opposed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who is appearing for the Gujarat government.
Zakia Jafri has challenged the Gujarat High Court 2017 order rejecting her plea against the SIT decision.
“In every incident of riot that had taken place in the aftermath of Godhra incident, extensive investigation had taken place in each of them and more particularly, in nine vital matters , under the direct guidance and gaze of the Honourable the Apex Court and therefore, if the Court does not find this operation and its evidence as the part of larger conspiracy, no error much less a significant error of law can be linked with such findings,” said the High Court order.
On February 8, 2012, SIT had submitted a closure report giving a clean chit to Narendra Modi and 63 other accused including government officials in connection with the 2002 riots. The team gave a clean chit stating that there was no prosecutable evidence against them.
