Zakia Jaffery, widow of former MP Ehsan Jaffery, today filed a fresh application in a local court seeking a copy of final report of Special Investigation Team on her complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others on 2002 post-Godhra riots.
The hearing on the application was adjourned till March 27 by Metropolitan Magistrate M S Bhatt after SIT sought time to file its reply.
In her plea, Zakia has demanded that the Supreme Court-appointed agency’s report be declared a public document and a copy of it be provided to her immediately.
The court also deferred till March 27 ruling on two similar applications – filed by Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM), an NGO, and one of the accused in the Gulburg Society riot case.
Zakia’s counsel Mihir Desai submitted that their earlier plea seeking a copy of the report last month was rejected on the basis of SIT not submitting its entire finding.
Now that the entire report and related documents have been submitted by SIT, they want access to the conclusions.
Desai contended his client was entitled to all documents that are a subject matter of the application.
He said whatever be the conclusion of SIT, be it recommending chargesheet against the accused or a closure report, Zakia, being a complainant in the case, has right to obtain a copy of the report at all stages.
The SIT has submitted to the court the final report, in a sealed cover, on Zakia’s complaint alleging complicity of Modi, other top politicians, police officers and bureaucrats of the state in the communal riots in which over 1,000 people were killed.
Besides, the report and related papers are public documents under Section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act and their access has been recognised under the Right to Information (RTI) Act too, Desai said.
SIT counsel R S Jamuar told the court that he would require time to file a reply to Zakia’s fresh application.
He maintained the agency had never opposed her plea for access to the report.
In fact, SIT has always maintained that Zakia, as the complainant, is entitled to the copy but only at a stage when the court, after reading the report, arrives at its conclusion. SIT’s opposition was only against other parties seeking access to it, Jamuar added.
In her complaint against Modi and 56 others, Zakia had alleged that between February and May 2002 there was a “deliberate and intentional failure” on part of the Gujarat Government to protect the life and property of people of a particular minority community.
She further alleged that Modi and others, including his Cabinet colleagues, police officials and senior bureaucrats, aided and abetted the statewide riots triggered by the Godhra train carnage.
The Supreme Court appointed the SIT to conduct inquiry on the complaint filed by Zakia and later directed it to submit the report before the Magistrate’s Court here.
—PTI