[September 12, 2011] SC: Trial court to hear Gulberg carnage case Tweet AHMEDABAD, Sep 13, 2011 (Khaleej Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a trial court would hear the petition filed by the widow of slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who alleged inaction on the part of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in containing the 2002 communal riots. The apex court referred the matter to the lower court in Ahmedabad for a decision but set no time-frame for the trial court. Passing the order on the plea by Zakia Jafri, the three-judge bench said the magistrate concerned would decide whether further probe was required. If the magistrate decided to drop proceedings against Modi and others, the petitioner would have to be informed and heard before the final decision. Zakia's petition named Modi and 61 other officials, including police officers and senior bureaucrats of the state government, and alleged that the accused conspired to render the police and security forces inactive in order to allow the mob violence to continue. As directed by the Supreme Court, the trial court will now refer the findings of the special investigation team (SIT) headed by former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director R.K. Raghvan as well as the amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran report which differed with SIT conclusions. The apex court had earlier handed over the task of probing the case to SIT which submitted its report in the court. After the SIT filed its probe report in a sealed cover, the court had also asked senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who is assisting it as amicus curiae, to analyse the SIT probe findings and file a confidential report on it. Ramachandran subsequently submitted his report to the court, which passed the order after going through the reports by SIT and Ramachandran and referred the case back to the Ahmedabad magistrate concerned to decide on the further course of action in the case. In Surat, Zakia said she was disappointed by the Supreme Court's ruling, as she has been "waiting for justice for nine years". She said she had pinned her hopes on the apex court ruling in her favour. But her son Tanvir said he was satisfied with the Supreme Court order which, he clarified, had not given a clean chit to Modi. Welcoming the verdict, Gujarat government spokesman J N Vyas told journalists that there was no evidence against the chief minister of criminal conspiracy in the riots. He said that the SIT was constituted by the apex court because certain sections had raised doubts over the manner in which the riot cases were being probed, adding that the victims would have got justice by now but for the objections raised by some NGOs. According to him, the SIT investigation has set to naught the theory of political conspiracy against the CM's involvement in the riots and the due process of law will be carried out. Modi did not meet the mediamen but posted a message on the micro-blogging site Twitter, saying "God is Great". Social activist Teesta Setalvad termed the verdict as a big step forward and said that the prayer of the petitioner had been granted by the Supreme Court, which directed the SIT to file its report in the trial court. "Our demands that an FIR be registered in the riots case has been accepted by the apex court," she said, adding that the apex court's order was 'complex'. Setalvad, a former journalist who has been helping Gujarat riots victims fight the cases, also pointed out that the court order was not a clean chit for Modi. "The only regret is the investigation is still left in the hands of the SIT, despite questions raised on SIT investigations. It will be a long struggle now", she lamented. In the morning of February 28, 2002, a day after Hindu-Muslim clashes erupted in Gujarat after an Ahmedabad-bound train packed with Hindu devotees was set on fire at the Godhra railway station in central Gujarat, a frenzied mob started gathering outside the Gulberg Society, a residential colony, and began shouting slogans. Many of the panic-stricken residents rushed to the house of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri (72) in the colony and took refuge there. Eyewitnesses say the popular politician kept on frantically calling the police and political leaders, including the Chief Minister, for help but in vain. By noon, the 2000-strong mob had turned violent, breaking open the boundary wall, torching houses and attacking the residents hiding here and there. In the next six hours, 69 people were killed, including Jafri who was dragged out of his house, hacked to death and burnt alive. [email protected] ___ (c)2011 the Khaleej Times (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) Visit the Khaleej Times (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) at www.khaleejtimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]