A day after the Supreme Court upheld SIT’s clean chit to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots, Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary has expressed his happiness that truth had prevailed while castigating SIT for compelling him to misquote Modi under pressure from the then Congress government.
The journalist took to Twitter on June 25 to share a copy of the SC judgement that dedicated 2 pages to Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary’s interview with PM Modi who was the CM of Gujarat at the time. He recalled how SIT formed to probe the Gujarat riots had quizzed him twice for his interview with then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
Chaudhary made some very serious allegations against the SIT and the then UPA administration at the centre, claiming that when it was questioning him, the SIT tried to coerce him into misquoting Modi since the UPA administration was desperate to implicate the latter. “They wanted me to say what he didn’t say. UPA Govt wanted this IV badly to implicate Modi,” said the senior journalist adding that he is “happy truth prevailed in Supreme Court’s order.”
Chaudhary also shared the SC judgement’s copy wherein Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary’s interview with PM Modi, who was then Chief Minister of Gujarat was mentioned.
Observing the outcome of additional research, the SC order mentioned that a request was sent to Zee TV during the investigation to provide a copy of the CD of an interview with Modi at the time. This interview was conducted by Chaudhary, who was a correspondent at the network at the time, on March 1, 2002.
The order stated that after the then Gujarat CM Modi’s press conference, Chaudhary reportedly asked for a quick 10-minute interview.
“After going through the Editor’s Guild Fact-Finding Mission report dated 03.05.2002, Shree Chaudhary had stated that the same was only a few excerpts from the said interview and the original CD of the said interview was not before him,” the judgement said.
“As per his recollection, he had questioned Shri Narendra Modi about the Chamanpura massacre (Gulberg Society case), in which former Congress MP Late Ahesan (Ehsan) Jafri had been killed with many others to which the Chief Minister had replied that the mob had reacted on account on private firing done by Late Ahesan (Ehsan) Jafri, Ex-MP. After refreshing his memory from the Editor’s Guild report, Shri Sudhir Chaudhary has stated that the Chief Minister was of the view that he neither wanted action nor reaction,” it added.
The judgement further stated that Chaudhary further claimed that he had asked the CM about the widespread violence that followed the Godhra incident. In response, the CM had said, “Godhra main jo parson (day before yesterday) hua, jahan par chalees (40) mahilaon aur bacchon ko zinda jala diya is main desh main aur videsh main sadma pahunchna swabhavik tha. Godhra ke is ilake ki criminal tendencies rahi hain. In logo ne pahele mahila teachers ka khoon kiya aur ab yeh jaghanya apraadh kiya hai jiski pratikria ho rahi hai.”
The top court judgement further said that Sudhir Chaudhary was unable to recollect the exact sequence of events after a span of 9 years, and moreover, the CD was not available to him.
“Shri Narendra Modi had been questioned about the aforesaid interview given to Zee TV on 01.03.2002. He has stated that those who have read the history of Gujarat would definitely be aware that communal violence in Gujarat has a long history and the State had witnessed serious incidents of such communal violence. As regards the Zee TV interview of 01.03.2002 is concerned, Shri Modi has stated that after a period of eight years, he did not recollect the exact words, but he had always appealed only and only for peace. He (Shri Modi) further stated that he had tried to appeal to the people to shun violence in straight and simple language. He had also stated that if his words cited in this question are considered in the correct perspective, then it would be evident that there is a very earnest appeal for people to refrain from any kind of violence. He had denied all the allegations against him in this regard,” it added.
It may be recalled that on June 24, the Supreme Court upheld SIT’s clean chit to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The SC was hearing a plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed during the violence at Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to PM Modi and 62 others for their alleged role in the violence.
While delivering its verdict, the apex court said that the “appeal is devoid of merits”. A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar refused to order a probe into allegations of a “larger conspiracy” behind the Gujarat riots.
While dismissing a plea challenging the clean given to PM Narendra Modi by SIT in the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Supreme Court also said that the Tehelka tapes are of no avail. The petitioner had heavily relied on the tapes to alleged that Modi was involved in the riots. The court also said that claims made by people like Sanjeev Bhatt and Haren Pandya were only to seasonalise and politicise the issue.
Dismissing the petition, the apex court said that doubting the wisdom of the court would be a travesty of justice, because the entire investigation was completed by the SIT under the supervision and monitoring of the court.
Meanwhile, OpIndia had written a detailed report busting popular myths the left-liberal cabal conjured up to implicate PM Modi and HM Amit Shah in the 2002 Gujarat riots case.
