Gulberg case: SIT gives clean chit to Modi?

In what may be a make or break day for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Ahmedabad metropolitan court will on today pronounce its decision on the Hindutva leader’s alleged role in the Gulberg Society massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

According to reports, the court will also decide if the SIT probe report on the Gulberg Society massacre should be made public or not.

The court will also pass its order on whether or not the SIT, which has reportedly given a clean chit to Modi, should be given more time to submit the pertinent documents before it.

On Monday, the trial court looking into Zakia Jafri’s plea seeking Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) report on post-Godhra riots of 2002 stayed its order till today. The court will today decide whether three main petitioners - Zakia Jafri, Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha - are entitled to a copy of SIT’s report.

Zakia Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The SIT, which has so far opposed the sharing of its report with the complainant, has sought time till March 8 to submit documents pertaining to the case.

The SIT counsel had argued that Setalvad and Sinha have no locus to demand a copy of the judgement as they are not the aggrieved in the case.

Meanwhile, the counsel for Setalvad and Sinha had countered the SIT’s arguments by claiming that being a public document, the report has to be made public.

The report, it is claimed, deals with all the cases investigated by the SIT, which include charges against chief minister and over 50 individuals responsible for killing innocents in the post-Godhra riots.

Charges against Modi say that he allowed the dead bodies of karsewaks killed in the Sabarmati express in Godhra to be brought to Ahmedabad, that he deliberately delayed action and called the army too late. It is also alleged that he knew about the threat to life of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri but didn’t take any action, among others.

The SIT argued that the report—widely surmised to be a closure document on the Gublerg Society massacre—need not be made public to rights groups at the moment and that the court could decide on that later.

Meanwhile, it is still not clear whether the report filed by SIT gives a clean chit to Modi. The court is yet to examine the report.

The Gujarat Chief Minister then exuded confidenceand tweeted Swami Vivekanda’s words, “I stand for truth. Truth will never ally itself with falsehood.”

The Supreme Court had asked the SIT to investigate whether the chief minister failed in his responsibilities and whether there was a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 riots.

The Supreme Court had then asked amicus curiae Raju Ramchandran to independently assess the SIT report.

The Supreme Court on 12 September 2011, after going through Ramachandran’s report, had refrained from passing any order in the case and asked the SIT to submit its final report in the magisterial court in Ahmedabad.

The SIT almost took five months after the Supreme Court order to file its final report in the case.

The Supreme Court had asked the magisterial court to hear the petitioners before closure summary in the case, even if the report was in favour of Modi and others

Supreme Court-appointed SIT in 2002 Godhra riots case

As a local court here is due to hear on Monday the closure report filed by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the 2002 post-Godhra riots case, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has warned of a "storm of criticism by anti-Gujarat forces".

The SIT report reportedly cleared Modi’s name among 57 others for their role in 2002 riots, saying it did not have "prosecutable evidence".

Modi yesterday said "there will be a storm in the form of criticism in next 24 hours, but the anti-Gujarat forces will not be successful in doing any harm". The Gujarat CM made the remarks while wrapping up his Sadhbhavana fast in Ambaji.

The remarks hold significance as the court of Metropolitan Magistrate MS Bhatt will also hear today petitions filed by social activists Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha seeking copies of the SIT report filed in a sealed cover before it last Wednesday.

According to Modi, “those who have been criticising Gujarat for the last one decade are going to come back to abuse us once again and this is because they cannot digest the success of Sadhbhavna that is peace, unity and harmony".

Modi also urged the 'anti-Gujarat forces' to accept that peace, harmony and brotherhood prevails in the state, and not to treat Gujaratis as people of an enemy state.

He also warned the 'anti-Gujarat forces' to do their politics outside Gujarat.

"They have done enough of salt rubbing into our wounds, but they cannot misguide the people of Gujarat. They cannot see Muslims, Christians and people of other religions working together. Few people who are against Gujarat are baffled by the success of Sadhbhavna," he said.

The Supreme Court had asked the SIT to investigate whether there was a larger conspiracy behind the 2002 riots in which more than 1,200 people were killed.

A complaint in this regard was filed by Setalvad and Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Ehsaan Jaffrey, in the infamous Gulberg Society case where 69 people were killed during the communal frenzy in 2002.

SIT after questioning many people, including Modi, had filed a report in the apex court in which it had reportedly said that there was no prosecutable evidence against the chief minister.