Supreme Court order is neither clean chit nor indictment: Raju Ramachandran

New Delhi: Raju Ramachandran's extensive analysis of the Gujarat riots will play a considerable role in determining whether Narendra Modi will be tried in Gujarat for his alleged role in the communal violence of 2002.   

Mr Ramachandran, who is a senior lawyer, submitted his report on the riots to the Supreme Court in May this year. Yesterday, the court said that it will no longer monitor a case that accuses Mr Modi  of conspiring with other politicians and bureaucrats to ensure that the rioters were not reigned in.  1200 people were killed, most of them Muslims.

"It is premature to talk of either clean chits or indictments," said Mr Ramachandran, of the Supreme Court's decision.  The three judges yesterday have said that a trial court in Gujarat will consider two different reports on the riots, and then decide whether the Chief Minister's prosecution is required.  Mr Ramachandran's report is one of those documents. The other is the findings of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court in 2009 to examine the riots.  Mr Ramachandran, after being appointed amicus curiae, reviewed the SIT's report.  Both documents are meant to be confidential and their contents have not been disclosed by the Supreme Court.  But Mr Ramachandran has allegedly differed with the SIT on several key conclusions.

The fact that the Supreme Court did not take a position on whether there's evidence against Mr Modi has been hailed as a vindication by his party, the BJP.

"The Supreme Court's order is an impeccable order which upholds the rule of law. It protects the rights of both the complainants and the potential accused," Mr Ramachandran said.  The law will now take its course. I have handed over my report to the SIT," he added.

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As part of his investigation into the Gujarat riots of 2002, Mr  Ramachandran conducted extensive interviews with those who witnessed the violence,  were affected by it,  or were in positions of power when communal violence ravaged the state. "My report contains an independent assessment of the material on record which was given after an interaction with relevant witnesses," the advocate explained. "I have no doubt that the trial court will act in accordance with law and that the ends of justice will be met."

The case in question has been filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband and former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was set on fire during the riots in their neighbourhood of Gulbarga Society in Ahmedabad.  Mrs Jafri claims that her husband called several senior policemen and Mr Modi  as a mob of rioters began attacking residents of their colony. She has accused the Chief Minister of ordering policemen to avoid assisting victims, and of placing senior ministers in police control rooms to ensure that no help was dispatched to areas where riots were being reported.

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