- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Pramod Thomas
INDIA’s Supreme Court will hear a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, against the special investigation team’s (SIT) clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Godhra riots on April 13.
“By consent, list the matter on April 13, 2021. It is made clear that no request for further adjournment will be sought by either side on that day,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice A M Khanwilkar said on Tuesday (16).
The court took into consideration a request by senior advocate Kapil Sibal to adjourn the case to April as several lawyers were engaged with the ongoing Maratha quota case before a constitution bench, reported The Hindu.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for the Gujarat government, asked the court to list the case next week. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for the SIT, also sought an early hearing while objecting to the adjournment, the report added.
Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002.
The SIT is a specialised team of officers in Indian law enforcement consisting of personnel trained to investigate serious crimes.
According to reports, the case has seen several adjournments in the past months.
On February 8, 2012, the SIT had filed a closure report, giving clean chit to Modi and 63 others, including senior government officials, saying there was ‘no prosecutable evidence’ against them.
