Court verdict on closure report in riots case

In what is being seen as a crucial day for Narendra Modi, a Magistrate’ s court in Ahmedabad on Thursday will deliver its order on the closure report filed by the Supreme court-appointed SIT against the chief minister and several others for their alleged role in the 2002 riots.

Riot victim Zakiya Jafri had filed a protest petition against the closure report. Jafri had lost her husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri in the 2002 riots.

In 2008, she petitioned the apex court seeking filing of charges against Modi and 61 others for their role in a larger conspiracy behind one of the worst communal riots in the country. The apex court had directed Special Investigation Team headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan to look into her complaint. In 2010, the SIT summoned Modi and questioned him for over 9 hours.

This followed allegations by IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt that Chief Minister Narendra Modi gave orders at a law and order meeting in his residence on the day of the Godhra train burning that the Hindus should be given a chance to vent their anger.