Court to decide on Zakia's access to SIT report after getting the final version

The Ahmedabad metropolitan court decided on Wednesday that the SIT report will be given to Zakia Jafri within a month. The court, however, denied access to the report to the co-petitioners. The report will be given to Jafri along with other documents after the SIT counsel submits the final version of the report in front of the court on 15 March. The court also said that all applications seeking copy of the report will be dealt with only after the probe panel submits the entire report. The court denied pleas of Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha. Setalvad, however, welcomed the court’s decision and hailed it as a big victory. Tanvir Jafri, son of ex-Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri, said he was happy with the decision. He added that the future course will be decided once the report is made available to them. The SIT court adjourned the matter to 27 February, when the court will decide whether the report can be shared with lawyers. The court pronounced its verdict on whether Zakia Jafri, Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha are entitled to a copy of SIT’s report. The report, it is claimed, deals with all the cases investigated by the SIT, which include charges against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and over 50 individuals responsible for killing innocents in the post-Godhra riots. The SIT had on Monday opposed sharing with activists its final report on the probe into allegations of Narendra Modi’s involvement in 2002 riots, as a court reserved till Wednesday its order on their plea seeking access to the crucial document. [caption id=“attachment_214008” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The SIT had on Monday opposed sharing with activists its final report. Reuters”] [/caption] During the hearing in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate MS Bhatt, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team(SIT) opposed the applications by Teesta Seetalvad and other activists, saying some of them had no locus standi to be given a copy of the report. SIT had submitted the report to the court in a sealed cover last week amid speculation that Modi may have got relief in the probe on Zakia Jafri’s complaint against the Chief Minister and others on the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Zakia’s husband Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was among the 69 people killed in post-Godhra Gulberg Housing society riots. SIT lawyer RS Jambuar said only after the court decides to close the complaint holding that there is no evidence, the copies could be given to the “original complainant” (Zakia), as per the Supreme Court’s order. The SIT team also submitted an application seeking one month’s time to submit the statements, evidence and documents related to the probe. The application said since this material was voluminous and compiled in a haphazard way it needed time to serialise the papers before submitting to the court. Jambuar said the documents were crucial and must be kept under tight security. He admitted that SIT had obtained the report of the amicus curie Raju Ramchandran (appointed by the Supreme Court), and had considered it before submitting its own final report. The amicus curie’s report had been dealt with in the SIT’s final report, Jambuar added. On behalf of the applicants, Zakia’s lawyer SM Vora said her client, being the original complainant, should get a copy, as per the apex court’s order. After hearing both the sides, the judge reserved the order till February 15. “We appreciate the court’s decision to give its order in only two days time,” Setalvad said. Charges against Modi say that he allowed the dead bodies of karsewaks killed in the Sabarmati express in Godhra to be brought to Ahmedabad, that he deliberately delayed action and called the army too late. It is also alleged that he knew about the threat to life of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri but didn’t take any action, among others. Read more here . With inputs from PTI