Three days after the apex court junked Zakia Jafri’s petition, the Congress party on Monday, June 27, came forward to express solidarity with the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. On June 24, the SC had dismissed Zakia Jafri’s petition challenging the clean chit given to the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots by an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT), calling it ‘devoid of merit’.
Calling the Supreme Court verdict ‘deeply disappointing’, AICC general secretary in charge of communication Jairam Ramesh claimed that many fundamental questions still remain unanswered. He added that the Congress party stands by late Congress leader Ehsan Jafri and his family in this hour.
A statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Zakia Jafri Case. pic.twitter.com/7IN8FvG540
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 27, 2022
The Congress leader took to Twitter to share the party’s statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in the Zakia Jafri Case. The statement read, “What is the Constitutional and moral responsibility of the Chief Minister and State Government in cases of large-scale communal riots? Is the responsibility in such cases, only ever that of the Collector and Dy. Commissioner of Police and not of the political executive? Will the Chief Minister, Cabinet and State Government never be held accountable, even if a State is thrown into a circle of violence & riots?”
The statement further stated, “We stand by our colleague, the late Ahsan Jafri and his family in this hour. What happened to him in a most tragic manner was the result of a fundamental lapse on the part of the state government.”
It read there are some questions that will continue to haunt the Prime Minister.
Jafri was killed by a rioting mob at his residence in Ahmedabad’s Chamanpura in the aftermath of Godhra carnage where in 59 Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive. Special Court in 2016 had observed that the firing by Jafri had provoked the mob that led to the frenzy.
Supreme Court dismisses petition by Zakia Jafri challenging clean chit to Narendra Modi
The judgement by the Supreme Court the Congress party is disregarding had upheld SIT’s clean chit to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots. 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.
The Judges had lambasted the petitioner for having the audacity to question the integrity of functionaries involved in the SIT probe. It must be mentioned that the SIT was appointed by the Supreme Court itself, which had accepted its final report on the riots. The Court applauded the work done by the SIT while junking the petition of Zakia Jafri.
