Print this article

Remembering Gulberg Tragedy 21 Years On

March 01, 2023 16:18 IST

Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed along with 68 others in the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad during the Gujarat riots of 2002, visited the Gulberg society on the 21st anniversary of the horrific incident on February 28, 2023.

Mrs Jafri had filed a complaint against then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and others into the larger conspiracy behind the 2002 riots on June 8, 2006.

On February 8, 2012, the special investigation team filed a closure report giving a clean chit to Modi and 63 others, including senior government officials, saying there was 'no prosecutable evidence' against them.

Mrs Jafri moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat high court's order rejecting her plea against the SIT decision. On June 24, 2022, the highest court of the land dismissed her plea and upheld the SIT's clean chit to Modi and others.

The Gujarat riots burst back centre-stage recently when the BBC screened a documentary that enraged the Modi government and its supporters.

IMAGE: Zakia Jafri with her family members visit the Gulberg society in Ahmedabad on the 21st anniversary of the tragedy, February 28, 2023. All photographs: PTI Photo

IMAGE: Police deployed at the Gulberg Society on the 21st anniversary.

IMAGE: The abandoned Gulberg Society on the 21st anniversary.

IMAGE: Family members of victims of the Gulberg Society massacre visit the society on the 21st anniversary.

IMAGE: Family members of victims of the Gulberg Society.

IMAGE: An activist in Ahmedabad holds a placard and a candle in the memory of those who died in the horrific 2002 Gujarat riots.

Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com

REDIFF NEWS