AHMEDABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team has found no evidence against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 57 others in the complaint filed against them by Zakia Jafri in the 2002 Gujarat riots, a Magisterial court said on Tuesday.
The court also ordered that Ms. Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among those killed in the Gulberg Society carnage, be given copies of all the related documents and reports within 30 days.
Metropolitan magistrate M.S. Bhatt, in his order on a batch of petitions seeking copy of the SIT report, said the investigators have filed a closure report and found no evidence against any of the accused named in Ms. Zakia Jafri’s complaint. Mr. Modi was on the top of the list of persons named in the complaint.
“According to SIT, no offence has been established against any of the 58 persons listed in Zakia’s complaint,” the court said.
“Therefore, as per the Supreme Court’s order and principle of natural justice the complainant has to be given copy of the report and related documents,” it said, adding no notice was needed to be issued to Ms. Zakia Jafri as she had already approached the court seeking a copy of the report.
“It is hereby ordered that as per Supreme Court order Zakia will be given copies of the investigation report, statements of witnesses and all related documents within 30 days of this order.”
Ms. Zakia Jafri had filed a complaint against Mr. Modi, his ministerial colleagues, top police officials and Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries accusing them of wider conspiracy in the 2002 riots in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, had been killed.
The Supreme Court had ordered an inquiry into the complaint filed by her and appointed the SIT headed by R.K. Raghavan to probe it.
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