Zakia Jafri moves Gujarat High Court over SIT’s clean chit to Modi

Petition calls for charging Modi, 59 others with criminal conspiracy over post-Godhra violence

Zakia, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, on Tuesday moved the Gujarat High Court challenging a lower court order giving a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in connection with the 2002 riots.

Ms. Jafri, whose husband was killed by a mob during the riot at Gulberg Society here, along with an NGO, filed a criminal review petition demanding that Mr. Modi and 59 others be charged with criminal conspiracy over the post-Godhra communal violence.

The NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CPJ), is run by social activist Teesta Setalvad.

Ms. Jafri also prayed for rejection of the closure report of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted to the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court.

The petition, running into about 540 pages, demanded rejection of the order of Metropolitan Magistrate B.J. Ganatra, who had accepted the report giving a clean chit to Mr. Modi and others.

“The Metropolitan Magistrate has accepted the contentions in the closure report of SIT without considering substantive arguments of the applicant [Zakia],” the petition said.

On December 26 last year, Justice Ganatra had rejected Ms. Jafri’s protest petition challenging the SIT’s clean chit to Mr. Modi. The SIT had filed the closure report on February 8, 2012.

The High Court is likely to hear the review petition on March 20.

“The SIT has not conducted a free and fair investigation against those named in the complaint,” Ms. Jafri has alleged.