In the Gulbarg Society attack case, SC fixed for hearing Zakia Jafri’s plea against Narendra Modi clean chit. The hearing will now be held on April 13. The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it would not entertain any more adjournment request in the Zakia Jafri plea that challenged the special investigative team’s clean chit given to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar took note of senior advocate Kapil Sibal’s request that the matter be postponed to sometime in April as advocates are busy in the Maratha reservation case which is currently ongoing and heard by a 5-judge bench. However Senior General Solicitor Tushar Mehta opposed the plea for the postponement and sought hearing of the case as soon as next week. Even Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented the SIT (Special Investigation Team) also opposed the postponement plea and stood firm on the opinion that the matter should be decided.

After taking into consideration these requests, the Supreme Court bench, comprising of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari, ordered, “Put this case for hearing on April 13. No request for adjournment will be entertained.” It should be noted that the apex court in February last year had fixed the case for hearing on April, 2020. The top court fixed the date saying that the matter had been adjourned one too many times and will have to be heard someday.

Who is Zakia Jafri?

Zakia Jafri is the wife of late Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri who was lynched and murdered during the 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre which took place a day after the Godhra riots in Gujarat on February 27.

The Gulbarg Society Attack

On February 28, 2002, the couple was taking shelter at home of their neighbour from a blood-thirsty mob. The violent mob, comprising of thousands of people, had attacked the Ahmedabad residential colony where Zakia and Ehsan had taken refuge. These violent men had set several of houses on fire one after the other. Seeing that the mob was relentless, the Congress MP tried to seek mercy from the mob but was eventually murdered in the process. However, her wife, who hid on a room on the first floor, ended up surviving the attack. The court, where the trial took place labelled the massacre as the “darkest day in the history of civil society of Gujarat”.

Complaints made by Zakia Jafri

On June 8, 2006, 4 years after the attack, the widow of the congress MP filed an FIR against 63 people, which included the current Prime Minister and the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and other top ministers, IAS-IPS officers, and political leaders in Gujarat. However, her complaint did not get any response and she filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court, asking the high court to treat her petition as an FIR. However, the Gujarat High Court dismissed her complaint.

History of Zakia Jafri Vs Narendra Modi

On March 26, 2008, the Supreme Court directed Narendra Modi government to carry out a probe in 9 cases in the 2002 Gujarat riots, including that of Gulbarg Society. In 2009, the Supreme Court asked the Special Investigative Team to look at Zakia’s complaint over the role of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others.

In September 2009, Supreme Court lifted its stay on the trial of Gulbarg Society case. The next year, in March 27, 2010, the SIT interrogated Modi and the eventual submitted reported said that there were no evidences against Modi to substantiate the allegations made by Zakia. In 2012, September, the Indian Supreme Court directed the magisterial court to decide whether Modi and others can be investigated after the SIT’s report. In 2012, the SIT submitted its final summary report in Ahmedabad.

On February 9, 2012, Zakia moved to court and sought the access to the SIT’s report. SIT in return objected to the request. In April 2012, the magisterial court concluded that SIT sought closure of the case as it found no evidence against the accused. The court also asked the SIT to submit the full report to Zakia.

In 2013, Zakia filed a protest petition in the court and challenged SIT’s clean chit to Modi and other accused men. The same year, magisterial court shelfed the verdict. Zakia then filed another plea in the Gujarat High Court against the SIT’s decision in 2017. It was rejected and she filed another petition in 2018 in Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court’s order. Since the petition was filed in 2018 in the Supreme Court, the case has been adjourned for more than 5 times till now.