No SC Order On Modi, Magistrate Asked To Decide
Monday, 12 September 2011, 20:05 IST   |    1 Comments
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NEW DELHI: In a relief to Gujarat chief minister Mr Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court today refused to pass any order on his alleged inaction to contain the 2002 Gujarat riots that erupted after the Godhra carnage and referred the matter to the magistrate concerned in Ahmedabad for a decision. A three-judge Bench headed by Mr Justice DK Jain directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the riot cases to submit its final report to the magistrate who was asked to decide whether to proceed against Mr Modi and 63 others, which includes senior government officials. The Bench made it clear that there was no need for it to further monitor the riot cases. The Bench, also comprising Mr Justice P Sathasivam and Mr Justice Aftab Alam said in case the magistrate decided to drop proceedings against Mr Modi and others, he had to hear the plea of slain MP Ehsan Jafri's widow Mrs Zakia Jafri, who had filed a complaint against the Gujarat chief minister. The court passed the order on a petition by Mrs Zakia Jafri alleging that Mr Modi and 62 top government officials deliberately refused to take action to contain the state-wide riots, triggered by the 27 February, 2002 Godhra train carnage. Mrs Jafri, who lost her husband Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP in the Gulberg Housing Society massacre, had pleaded in the SC for a "proper probe" by the SIT headed by former CBI chief Mr RK Raghavan, into her allegations of inaction and various acts of omission and commission by Mr Modi and others after the riots. The SC had earlier handed over the probe to the SIT that submitted its report to the court. After the SIT filed its probe report in a sealed cover, the court had also asked senior advocate Mr Raju Ramachandran, who is assisting it as amicus curie, to analyse the SIT probe findings and file a confidential report on it. Mr Ramachandran had subsequently submitted his report to the court, which passed the order after going through the reports by the SIT and Mr Ramachandran and referred the case back to the Ahmedabad magistrate concerned to decide the further course of action. On 28 July, the bench said it would pass its order on the basis of the amicus curie's report.
Source: PTI
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