The Supreme Court today said that it would hear a plea challenging the clean chit given to Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots next Monday, November 19.
The plea was filed by Zakia Jafri, the wife of Ehsan Jafri, an ex-MP who was killed in one of the worst incidents of violence that took place during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A Special Investigation Team, which investigated the riots, gave a clean chit to then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
The Gujarat High Court in 2017, by when Modi had become prime minister, had upheld that clean chit.
Zakia Jafri filed a petition challenging the Gujarat High Court order.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar said today that it will need to go study the SIT’s closure report, which cleared Modi’s name, thoroughly and so, will hear the matter on Monday.
GUJARAT RIOTS
2002 Gujarat riots is a collective term used to describes incidents of communal violence that took place over a three-day period in early 2002 in Gujarat.
The riots followed the burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra. The train was full of kar sevaks and the coach fire killed 59 people.
Following the Godhra carnage, Hindus and Muslims clashed across the state.
Among the most deadly instance of violence was the Gulberg Society massacre that caused the deaths of 68 people. Zakia Jafri’s husband Ehsan was among those killed.
The Gujarat government struggled to bring the situation under control and the Indian Army was ultimately deployed on the third day to bring peace.
The worst of the violence took place in the three days after the Godra train fire. However, communal tension remained for a few months.
Following the riots, allegations were made that the Gujarat state machinery had either failed or turned a blind eye to the violence in the state. Then CM Narendra Modi’s role was also questioned, but the SIT later cleared his name.
