New Delhi, September 12: The Supreme Court on Monday is likely to decide whether Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s role should be probed in the 2002 Gulbarg Society case. Sixty nine people, including Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed by a rioting mob in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002.
In February, the SIT team headed by former CBI Chief RK Radhavan submitted a 600 page report in sealed envelope to the Supreme Court. CNN-IBN and Tehelka had accessed its details. The report posed several embarrassing questions for Modi, but said the evidence was not strong enough to prosecute him.
What the SIT reports says:
– The government’s reaction to the violent attacks on Muslims in Gulburg society and Naroda Patiya was not the type expected of anyone.
– Chief Minister Narendra Modi tried to water down the seriousness of the situation at Gulburg society and Naroda Patiya by saying every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
– The report also criticised Modi for appointing pro-VHP advocates as public prosecutors in the riot cases.
– It said Modi had not visit riot-affected areas though he was at Godhra on Feburary 27, 2002.
– It also said the government destroyed wireless records of police conversations on that fateful day.
The report also criticised the role of bureacrats and cabinet ministers members but it failed to satisfy the apex court which then asked the new amicus curie Raju Ramachandran to see if there were lapses in the SIT report and suggest further course of action.
Ramachandran visited Ahmedabad and met police officers and submitted a status report in a sealed envelope in July this year.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will have ramifications both for Narendra Modi personally and for the BJP as a political party.
The SC is set to decide if Modi’s role should be probed in the 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre.
——-Agencies