A file photo of the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots holding placards and shouting slogans during the 10th anniversary of the Godhra riots, in Ahmadabad. (Image: PTI)
Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered expeditious disposal of appeals pending in Gujarat High Court of 21 convicts in 2002 Dipda Darwaja massacre.
11 persons, including four children and five women who were staying at the Chudiwas locality of Visnagar town near Dipda Darwaja, were killed by a mob on February 28, 2002. The bodies of none of the deceased could be recovered and they were identified only from the flesh pieces and ornaments found at the massacre site.
21 people were sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the Chudiwas riots that happened on March 1, 2002.
This comes a day after the Gujarat High Court began the hearing on the petition filed by Zakia Jafri against a lower court’s order upholding the clean chit given by Special
Investigation Team to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others with regard to the 2002 riots.
ALSO READ: 2002 Gujarat Riots: High Court Starts Hearing On Zakia Jafri’s Petition Against PM Narendra Modi
Jafri’s husband, former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, was among those who were killed in the riots. Advocate Mihir Desai, Jafri’s lawyer, today argued before Justice Sonia Gokani. The magistrate’s court had wrongly held that it cannot order investigation of riots cases because it did not fall in its jurisdiction, Desai said.
Neither SIT nor the magistrate’s court considered the first interim probe report of SIT filed by its member A K Malhotra when the case was before the Supreme Court, he said.
Asserting that there was “a larger conspiracy” behind the riots, Desai said “what happened post-February 27, 2002 (Godhra train burning incident) was not spontaneous outpouring
of anger of people. A built-up was allowed which led to February 28 (riots).
ALSO READ: Congress Demands Apology From PM Narendra Modi Over Gujarat Riots
“It might be a reaction on what happened on February 27. But there was a failure to impose curfew and the failure to take precautionary measures to ensure that the Bandh (in protest against Godhra incident) should be peaceful,” he said.
Desai also pointed out certain hate speeches contributed to the riots.
Jafri had filed a complaint in the Supreme Court against Modi (the then Chief Minister of Gujarat) and 62 others including state ministers, police officials and BJP leaders, alleging that they were part of a wider conspiracy behind the post-Godhra riots.
ALSO READ: Ex-PM Vajpayee Termed Gujarat Riots A “Mistake”, Says Ex-RAW Chief
The SC asked SIT to probe it. In February 2012, SIT filed a closure report before the magistrate giving a clean chit to Modi and others. Jafri’s petition against SIT report was
rejected by the metropolitan magistrate B J Ganatra, so she moved the High Court.
(With Inputs From Agencies)