In a great relief to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court of India has directed a lower court to decide on "whether the chief minister can be probed in to the case" of the 2002 Godhra riots, the Hindustan Times reports.
According to reports, the Supreme Court's direction came after a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, one of the victims of the communal riot, on Modi's role in the massacre, which claimed about 70 lives.
"No further monitoring of the 2002 Gujarat riots case is required by us," said the Supreme Court.
The special court will give a verdict on "Gulbarg Society massacre" case.
The special bench comprising Justice D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam asked the Special Investigation Team constituted by the lower court to submit the final report before the trial court on the basis of "status report" before the apex court.
Zakia Jafri expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court's direction.
"I am disappointed with the SC verdict. I am not saying that they have not probed the matter. But there is a possibility that they missed out on something. If the SC could not do anything what can I expect now from the lower court," she said.
"I have been waiting for justice for over nine years and if this is the outcome, what else can I expect from a lower court?" she added with resentment.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who prepared and submitted the report after visiting Ahmedabad and taking witnesses and police officers, sought an "independent overview" of the evidence recorded by the SIT.
In the morning of Feb. 28, 2002, a day after communal violence started in the state of Gujarat after a train coach along with its passengers, mainly Hindu worshippers, was burnt down at the Godhra railway station, a frenzied mob, mainly Hindus, gathered outside the Gulbarg Society, a cluster of 29 bungalows and 10 apartment buildings housing upper middle-class families mostly belonging to the Muslim community, in Ahmedabad city's Hindu-dominated Chamanpura area.
