Gulbarg massacre: Zakia to file protest petition against SIT report

Ahmedabad: Zakia Jafri, wife of 2002 post-Godhra riots victim Ehsan Jafri, is likely to file a protest petition in a trial court in Ahmedabad on Monday against the Special Investigation Team (SIT)'s closure report giving clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in the Gulbarg Society massacre case in Ahmedabad. "Tomorrow (Monday) we are filing our protest petition against the SIT's closure report in our complaint against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others, before the court," said advocate SM Vora, who represents Zakia in the case, on Sunday.

Hearing of the case is scheduled to be held on Monday afternoon before Metropolitan Magistrate BJ Ganatra. The Supreme Court, in its order dated February 7, 2013, has allowed Zakia to file a fresh protest petition and had also directed that she be supplied with entire report of the inquiry by the SIT in her complaint to enable her to file the protest petition.

Zakia has filed the petition challenging the trial court's order rejecting her plea for supply of some documents relating to the investigation in the case, including the interim report filed by SIT member AK Malhotra. She had sought the documents to file a protest petition against the SIT's closure report in the case, which was rejected by the trial court.

Following the apex court orders, the SIT has supplied the copy of Malhotra report to Zakia Jafri and Metropolitan Magistrate BJ Ganatra has given time to file her protest petition by April 15, 2013. On February 8, 2012 investigating officer of the case Himanshu Shukla has filed his report in the complaint and in which it was concluded that as per the evidence collected no criminal offence has been made out against the accused.

Jafri in her complaint had sought prosecution of Modi, along with 57 others, for aiding and abetting 2002 post-Godhra communal riots in which more then 1,200 people had lost their lives. Her husband Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was among the 69 killed in the Gulbarg Housing society riots on February 28, 2002.