Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has issued a contempt notice against the Narendra Modi government in a compensation case regarding the 2002 riots. In 2011, the High Court had ordered compensation in a rioting case where 12 shops were burnt in Ahmedabad. But the Gujarat government did not comply following which the petitioner filed a contempt petition in the High Court.
This has come on a day when the metropolitan court in Ahmedabad will decide if the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe report on the Gulbarg Society massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots should be made public. The court will also take a decision on whether the SIT should submit the pertinent documents before the court.
Earlier on Monday, the SIT opposed giving the report to activists Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha in court.
The SIT report has reportedly given a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
On Wednesday, the metropolitan court will decide whether Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, should be given a copy of the report. The SIT has so far opposed the sharing of its report with the complainant. The court will also decide if the SIT should be given time till March 8 to submit documents pertaining to the case.
Earlier, the Supreme Court appointed SIT completed its investigations and filed a final report in a sealed envelope before a trial court in Ahmedabad, what the SIT investigations have in the case has been a subject of controversy. Last year, the SIT in its report to the Supreme Court dismissed allegations against Modi.
The SIT findings said that Modi was not a part of the conspiracy, a conclusion arrived at after examining 1,700 statements recorded by it.
One of the allegation on Modi is that he allowed the dead bodies of karsewaks killed in the Sabarmati Express in Godhra to be brought to Ahmedabad.
The SIT has said that Modi's decision was justified as Godhra was more sensitive than Ahmedabad and that the hospitals in Godhra were not equipped for conducting the DNA test.
Another allegation on Modi is that he called the Army too late. The SIT report has used the fax sent by the Gujarat government to the Defence Ministry as its evidence.
Modi is also alleged to have known about the threat to life of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri but didn't take any action.
The SIT team didn't find any evidence of a call made by Jafri to Modi or the Ahmedabad police commissioner when the Gulbarg society was attacked. The SIT said that they went through several call records but couldn't find any confirmation of the allegation that Jafri sought protection from Modi.
The Amicus Curiae Raju Ramachandran appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the lapses of the SIT has agreed with it on the most of the findings and has concluded that there is no evidence against Modi to prosecute him.
Sources told CNN-IBN that on several issues the amicus curiae has also differed with the SIT.
The allegation on Modi is during the meeting held at his house on the February 27, He had stated that the Muslims should be taught a lesson.
The SIT says no such instruction was given by Modi, regarding the presence of IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt - he wasn't present in the meeting.
The Amicus Curiae has a different view regarding the meeting.
But the SIT report does throw up several embarrassing questions for Modi, it says that despite ghastly violent attacks on the Muslims in Gulburg society and Naroda Patiya the reaction of the govt was not the type which would have been expected of anyone.
Modi also allegedly tried to water down the seriousness of the situation at Gulbarg society and Naroda Patiya by saying every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
The report also criticises Modi for appointing pro-VHP advocates as public prosecutors in the riot cases. Modi also did not visit riot affected areas though he was at Godhra on Feburary 27, 2002 and most damagingly for Modi the report says that the government destroyed wireless records of police conversation on February 27, 2002.
According to source based report the SIT has once again in its final report given a clean chit to Modi, but the real question is whether the riot victims of 2002 have given a clean chit to Modi.
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