VERDICTS were delivered in April in two cases relating to the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. A Special Court in Anand district convicted 23 persons for burning to death 23 people in a house in Ode near Anand. Eighteen of them were given life terms. However, in the second case, known as the Gulberg Society case, which relates to the killing of 69 people, the victims of the violence suffered a setback when the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a closure report in the court. The difference between the two cases is that Chief Minister Narendra Modi is accused number one in the latter, filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, who was one of the riot victims.
Does the closure report mean that it is curtains for the Zakia Jafri case and that Modi has finally got a clean chit? For the short term yes, say activists. Zakia Jafri will continue her battle for justice. The judicial process allows her to contest the closure report and take the case up to the Supreme Court.
There are nine cases relating to the riots that broke out in Gujarat after the Sabarmati Express carnage in Godhra on February 27, 2002. Most of them have reached the final stage, and verdicts will be delivered in the coming months. The first semblance of justice came last November in the Sardarpura massacre case in which 31 accused were given life terms for burning alive 33 Muslims.
Obviously, the verdicts do not bode well for the Chief Minister, when the State is heading for Assembly elections later this year. Besides, Modi has been using every opportunity to project himself as the next national leader from the beleaguered Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has been trying hard to shake off the the-man-behind-the-riots label, but he has not been very lucky.
In the Gulberg Society case, Modi and 61 other top politicians, administrators and police officials are accused of being responsible for the attack on the colony.
While pronouncing the judgment, the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate said the SIT had not found any evidence to prosecute the Chief Minister, top bureaucrats and senior police officers and recommended that the investigation in the case be closed.
According to the SIT, no offence has been established against any of the persons listed in Ms. Jafri's complaint. Therefore, as per the Supreme Court's order and the principle of natural justice, the complainant has to be given a copy of the report and related documents, the court said.
A disappointed but determined Tanvir Jafri, son of Ehsan Jafri, told mediapersons: The SIT says there is no evidence against Mr Modi, but not the court. The SIT's decision is of no value if the magistrate decides against it. It may take time, but we are going to fight it out.
Activist Teesta Setalvad of the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), who has stood by the Jafris in their legal battle, says the amicus curiae report is not out yet and that report will be crucial to the case.
The SIT chief, R.K. Raghavan, was measured in his response to the court order. The CJP and other activist organisations have repeatedly accused the SIT of not taking into account all the evidence presented. They charge that the probe was handled badly, and cite the fact that two officers, Geeta Johri and Shivananda Jha, were removed from the SIT for shoddy work.
Raghavan said that the SIT did a good job and that closure had been recommended in the Gulberg massacre case as the team could not find any evidence against the people named in the petition. He said: We have filed the report saying no evidence on the contents of a particular petition was available and recommended closure.
Ode to justiceOde, a small town near Anand, witnessed the gruesome massacre on March 1, 2002. Many of the 23 people burnt alive in a house were women and children. The case was one part of the nine that the SIT probed.
On April 9 this year, the Ode case became the second in the nine to see justice delivered. The prosecution had demanded the death sentence for 18 of the 23 persons convicted for murder and criminal conspiracy. It is a heinous case involving mass killings of women and children, so the trial court should award capital punishment to the convicts, Special Public Prosecutor P.N. Parmar said. The trial, which began in November 2009, saw 158 witnesses being examined.
The Ode and Sardarpura cases raise the hope that the Gulberg case will also see justice eventually.
Anupama Katakam
