AHMEDABAD: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi got a huge relief after a metropolitan court on Thursday rejected a petition to prosecute him for conspiracy in 2002 post-Godhra riots. On a day the Gujarat CM completed one year in office after his third straight electoral win, the court upheld the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT)'s clean chit to him in February 2012 .
Metropolitan magistrate BJ Ganatra, ruled that evidence to prosecute Modi along with 57 other politicians, top cops and bureaucrats was insufficient. The judgment was delivered on a protest petition by Zakia Jafri whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre along with 68 others.
"SIT closure report is accepted and prayers made in the protest petition are rejected," the metropolitan magistrate said, pronouncing the verdict.
The court said there is no prima facie evidence against the accused. It also said the events were not serious enough that could be described as 'ethnic cleansing and genocide'.
The court said it cannot believe that the train burning incident in Godhra a day before the massacre was a pre-panned conspiracy by those in power.
The court in its 440-page order upheld SIT's conclusions that Modi administration called the army in time and observed that the Gujarat CM had addressed both the communities on Doordarshan and appealed for peace. The court exonerated Modi from the charge of dereliction of duty.
"This shows that police and security forces were deployed to control the law and order situation in the state... Court does not agree that Modi did not take positive steps to control riots. If required, curfew was also clamped. In such circumstances, his act cannot be interpreted as conspiracy and abetment," the order said.
The court rejected amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran's conclusion that Modi can be prosecuted for inciting communal hatred. It described IPS Sanjiv Bhatt's testimony as 'not trustworthy'.
Accepting the SIT report, it said, "The court agrees with SIT that Modi took enough efforts in a short time after Godhra carnage to see that law and order situation did not deteriorate further and situation remained peaceful. The amicus curiae has also supported this conclusion and mentioned about these efforts in his report."
Advocate Mihir Desai said, "It is a disappointment for us, but we do not get disheartened. It has been happening to us since the 2002 riots. There were setbacks for us during the proceedings in the Best Bakery case also. But in this case too, we will get same results. We are confident. We still believe that whatever evidence SIT has gathered till date are enough to bring the accused to trial."
The verdict will give a boost to BJP and Modi to fight the taint of the 2002 riots.
Source : TOI
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