Zakia Jafri, widow of 2001 Gulberg Society massacre victim Ehsan Jafri, today told a local court that the mandate given to the SIT by the Supreme Court was not restricted to probe the massacre case only but the "larger conspiracy" behind the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
This was submitted by Zakia, who filed a petition challenging the SIT closure report giving clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others for their alleged role in 2002 riots, in the court of metropolitan magistrate B J Ganatra.
"SIT played a mischief by clubbing Zakia Jafri's 2008 complaint with Gulberg society massacre case and created an impression that the probe was only about the incident related to the Gulberg Society," advocate Sanjay Parikh said after SIT completed its arguments defending its final report it had submitted before the court in February 2012.
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The SIT, during the course of arguments, had claimed that Zakia in her petition included totally irrelevant material like incidents of all other riot cases whereas the Supreme Court had directed SIT to probe only the incidence related to the Gulberg society massacre case.
Contesting the SIT argument, Parikh cited all apex court orders related to the 2002 Gujarat riot cases, including the judgement ordering re-trial in the Best Bakery case of Vadodara, in chronological manner.
In January 2012, SIT had submitted its final report giving clean chit to Modi and others for their complicity in the 2002 post-Godhra riots as alleged by Zakia in her 2008 complaint before the apex court.
Zakia's husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was among 70 people killed in the Gulberg society carnage on February 28, 2002.