New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will today take up the Godhra riots cases investigated by the Special Investigative Team (SIT) headed by former CBI Director RK Raghavan.
The SIT had submitted its report on the complaint by Zakia Jafri against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others. The team had given Modi a near-fail grade for his "partisan" handling of the riots, according to Tehelka magazine and wire service, AFP, both of who have seen copies of the report.
The Supreme Court had given the report to Amicus Curiae Raju Ramachandran to study and he has submitted his views. The Court will take up Ramachandran's views on the report.
In 2002, in the communal riots across Gujarat, one of the worst since the partition of India, 1200 people were killed, most of them Muslims. The trigger for the violence was the Godhra train carnage in February that year - the Sabarmati Express, packed with Hindu pilgrims, was set on fire. Fifty nine people were killed. Hindu groups said Muslims were to blame. Over the next three days, Muslim neighbourhoods were targeted with unrelenting ferocity.
The BJP in Gujarat has said it will not react to news of the report since the matter is sub-judice. But the contents are likely to force urgent internal discussions. "The Chief Minister had tried to water down the seriousness of the situation," the SIT's report states, "in spite of the fact that ghastly and violent attacks had taken place on Muslims... the reaction of the government was not the type that would have been expected by anyone."
However, the report says there is nothing to back the allegation leveled by human rights activists that a day after the Godhra riots, the Chief Minister instructed officials at a meeting to let Hindus vent their anger.
The report also states that while two ministers from Mr Modi's government were placed in police control rooms in Ahmedabad, there is no evidence that they were instructed by Mr Modi to prevent the police from reaching riot-affected areas. The SIT says that under scrutiny, the cellphone records of the ministers suggest that they were in touch with those orchestrating the riots.
The SIT had submitted its report on the complaint by Zakia Jafri against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others. The team had given Modi a near-fail grade for his "partisan" handling of the riots, according to Tehelka magazine and wire service, AFP, both of who have seen copies of the report.
The Supreme Court had given the report to Amicus Curiae Raju Ramachandran to study and he has submitted his views. The Court will take up Ramachandran's views on the report.
In 2002, in the communal riots across Gujarat, one of the worst since the partition of India, 1200 people were killed, most of them Muslims. The trigger for the violence was the Godhra train carnage in February that year - the Sabarmati Express, packed with Hindu pilgrims, was set on fire. Fifty nine people were killed. Hindu groups said Muslims were to blame. Over the next three days, Muslim neighbourhoods were targeted with unrelenting ferocity.
The BJP in Gujarat has said it will not react to news of the report since the matter is sub-judice. But the contents are likely to force urgent internal discussions. "The Chief Minister had tried to water down the seriousness of the situation," the SIT's report states, "in spite of the fact that ghastly and violent attacks had taken place on Muslims... the reaction of the government was not the type that would have been expected by anyone."
However, the report says there is nothing to back the allegation leveled by human rights activists that a day after the Godhra riots, the Chief Minister instructed officials at a meeting to let Hindus vent their anger.
The report also states that while two ministers from Mr Modi's government were placed in police control rooms in Ahmedabad, there is no evidence that they were instructed by Mr Modi to prevent the police from reaching riot-affected areas. The SIT says that under scrutiny, the cellphone records of the ministers suggest that they were in touch with those orchestrating the riots.
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