Zakia told to challenge SIT closure report by April 15

A Gujarat court on Monday ordered Zakia Jafri, wife of ex-Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 post-Godhra riots, to challenge the Special Investigation Team closure report giving clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others by April 15.

Metropolitan magistrate B J Ganatra directed Zakia to file her protest petition in eight weeks, against the closure report filed by SIT on February 8, 2012, which probed her complaint against Modi and others for their alleged role in the riots.

Zakia, through her advocate S M Vora, verified before the court that she has been supplied with all the relevant material in connection with the SIT probe in her complaint against Modi and others.

On February 13, a week after the Supreme Court order, SIT had given the copies of three reports, including the preliminary report prepared by A K Malhotra, member SIT and two reports of Himanshu Shukla who was the investigating officer.

Meanwhile, Zakia, in a written reply, through her lawyer, to the application of SIT, has taken strong exception to the 'hostile' and 'adversarial' attitude of the SIT in the case before the court and blamed the agency for the 'delay'.

"We would like to state categorically that the delay of one whole year (since the filing of closure report) was entirely on account of SIT's adversarial and hostile attitude towards my client, the complainant and their refusal to give the complete documents," states her reply.

Following the metropolitan court's refusal to direct SIT to give her material, including Malhotra's report, Zakia challenged it before the Supreme Court which on February 7, 2012, which granted her prayer and ordered SIT to furnish her all relevant materials.

"We clarify that the petitioner (Jafri) is entitled to entire inquiry report placed in sealed envelope before this court on May 12, 2010," a Supreme Court bench comprising justices P Sathasivam, Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai had said.

Zakia, whose husband along with 68 others were killed by a mob on February 28, 2002, had filed complaint against Modi and 58 others in 2006.