New Delhi, Ahmedabad:
It has summoned Chief Minister Narendra Modi to explain his role in the death of a former MP, burnt alive during the Gujarat riots in 2002. But as Modi's lawyers will no doubt point out, the committee's own credibility is uncertain. (
Read & Watch: Gujarat riots: Modi summoned by Supreme Court panel)
Headed by RK Raghavan, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed by the Supreme Court in 2008. Families of those who died during the communal riots said the Gujarat Police could not be fair in its assessment of what went wrong - after all, some of its own men were accused of conspiring to have Muslims killed. (
Watch: Modi summoned for questioning in riots case: SIT Chief)
Raghavan's team was then set up to reinvestigate 9 cases of communal riots. The committee says after it questions Modi on the 21st of this month, it will be ready to deliver its report to the Supreme Court. But has its two-year inquiry been a waste of time? (
Read: Gulbarg Society wants answers from Modi)
Families of those who died in the riots have asked the court to appoint a new committee. Shivanand Jha, the police commissioner of Surat, is a member of the current committee but is accused of inaction during the riots. (
Watch: Zakiya Jafri speaks to NDTV)
They also claim that the Raghavan panel has not been able to obtain crucial phone records that could prove who Ehsaan Jafri called for help before he was burnt alive. Jafri, a former Congress MP, allegedly called close to 200 people including senior bureaucrats and policemen for help when his neighbourhood, Gulbarg Society, turned into the location of a massive massacre. (
Read: The Gulbarg Society massacre: What happened)
This, and other lapses, claim the families fighting for justice, prove that the Ragahvan committee has not managed to conduct an inquiry more thorough or fair than what the Gujarat Police delivered. (
Watch: SIT probe just a formality: Riots victim)
While the committee has summoned Modi, the families of victims say for two years, the panel did not question any major politicians named by witnesses.
(Read: Gujarat riots trial: Witness 'blames' Modi)The SIT has allegedly rejected these accusations in a written response to the Supreme Court.
But it doesn't help that the public prosecutors involved with the case have resigned, alleging that the Raghavan committee is inefficient and does not share basic information and documents with them. The prosecutors have also said that the judge hearing the case is hostile to witnesses. One of their biggest objections: that the SIT has failed to submit in court a CD that has telephone records of the calls made by government leaders in the first few days of the riots. This CD, according to the prosecution, could help prove that those who could have helped to control and fight the riots did the very opposite. (
Read: Modi summoned: Govt looks for legal options)