Ahmedabad:
Will testimony against Narendra Modi in connection with the 2002 riots in his state be submitted to a Gujarat court?
The Supreme Court has reportedly got two different versions from two sets of people who it appointed to examine Mr Modi's role. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2009 was directed to look into Modi's role after Zakia Jafri accused the Chief Minister and other senior politicians and bureaucrats of deliberately preventing assistance to those being attacked. Mrs Jafri's husband, former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri, was set on fire at Gulbarga Society in Ahmedabad as he tried to protect his neighbours from rioters.
The SIT submitted its report to the court in May last year and its contents have officially not been revealed, but leaks suggest the SIT has found no evidence of Mr Modi's complicity in the riots which left 1200 people dead, most of them Muslims.
Then in May this year, the Supreme Court asked senior advocate Raju Ramachandran to tour Gujarat as an amicus curiae or "friend of the court." Mr Ramachandram met some of the same witnesses who had shared their account of the riots with the SIT, but he allegedly advised the court that there are grounds for further inquiry against Mr Modi.
Last month, the Supreme Court said it will stop monitoring the case and asked the SIT to submit its report to a trial court in Gujarat. The Supreme Court said it was up to the SIT to consider whether to include Mr Ramachandran's findings. That's what the SIT is now seeking legal opinion on. Sources say the team believes that the Supreme Court has not ordered it to share Mr Ramachandran's report with the court that will now decide whether there's enough evidence to merit Mr Modi's prosecution.
The SIT is likely to submit its final report within five weeks to the Magistrate's court in Ahmedabad, where Mrs Jafri initially filed her complaint.
The Supreme Court has reportedly got two different versions from two sets of people who it appointed to examine Mr Modi's role. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2009 was directed to look into Modi's role after Zakia Jafri accused the Chief Minister and other senior politicians and bureaucrats of deliberately preventing assistance to those being attacked. Mrs Jafri's husband, former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri, was set on fire at Gulbarga Society in Ahmedabad as he tried to protect his neighbours from rioters.
The SIT submitted its report to the court in May last year and its contents have officially not been revealed, but leaks suggest the SIT has found no evidence of Mr Modi's complicity in the riots which left 1200 people dead, most of them Muslims.
Then in May this year, the Supreme Court asked senior advocate Raju Ramachandran to tour Gujarat as an amicus curiae or "friend of the court." Mr Ramachandram met some of the same witnesses who had shared their account of the riots with the SIT, but he allegedly advised the court that there are grounds for further inquiry against Mr Modi.
Last month, the Supreme Court said it will stop monitoring the case and asked the SIT to submit its report to a trial court in Gujarat. The Supreme Court said it was up to the SIT to consider whether to include Mr Ramachandran's findings. That's what the SIT is now seeking legal opinion on. Sources say the team believes that the Supreme Court has not ordered it to share Mr Ramachandran's report with the court that will now decide whether there's enough evidence to merit Mr Modi's prosecution.
The SIT is likely to submit its final report within five weeks to the Magistrate's court in Ahmedabad, where Mrs Jafri initially filed her complaint.
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