The Supreme Court has rejected a petition filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of the late Congress leader Ehsaan Jafri, which challenged the special investigation team’s investigation into the alleged involvement of former Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the violence.

Ehsan Jafri was killed on February 28, 2002, in violence at the Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad. The court reserved the order on Zakia Jafri’s petition against the Gujarat High Court order, rejecting her defence of the SIT’s decision in December to oppose the former Gujarat CM and 63 others publicly.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for SIT, told the judge that the Supreme Court should uphold the decision of the trial court and the Gujarat High Court against Jafri’s plea. Otherwise, it will lead to an endless campaign as some social motives may continue. Activist Teesta Setalvad is the second petitioner in the petition.
Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Zakia Jafri, told the Supreme Court that the SIT did not investigate but cooperated, and its investigation was full of omissions to protect co-conspirators. He also said that SIT officers and police were generously rewarded.

However, the SC said Jaffrey’s petition was brought under the direction of several others. “On behalf of the defence (p. 514), the appellant also indirectly challenged the court’s rulings in other cases, including the second instance, for reasons she knew best. She did so apparently at someone’s dictation. Most protest petitions are based on affidavits submitted by these individuals, which are believed to be full of lies.”

“SIT has formed its opinion after considering all material collated during the investigation. Questions for further investigation will only arise on the availability of new material/information concerning the larger conspiracy allegations at the highest level, i.e., in this case, not appearing. Therefore, the final report submitted by SIT should be accepted without doing anything else,” the SC said.