Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, died on Saturday in Ahmedabad at the age of 86. Ehsan Jafri was among 69 persons who were killed inside Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, on February 28, 2002, a day after coaches of the Sabarmati Express train were burnt in Godhra, resulting in the deaths of 59 'karsevaks' returning from Ayodhya. The incident triggered horrific rioting across the state. Zakia Jafri hit the national headlines as she waged a legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court in a bid to hold top political leaders accountable for the large conspiracy for the riots post the Godhra train burning episode. Her son Tanveer Jafri said that his mother was visiting his sister's house in Ahmedabad when she complained of feeling uneasy. The doctor who was called in declared her dead at around 11:30 am. Social activist Teesta Setalvad, who was co-complainant in Jafri's protest petition in the Supreme Court, posted on X that Zakia Jafri was a compassionate leader of the human rights community.
In its order of June 12, which was made available on June 15, the court of additional sessions judge Harsh Trivedi also slammed pseudo-secular media and politicians for claiming that the riots were planned.
A day after he and 10 others were released from jail in the case related to the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots, convict Shailesh Bhatt claimed that they were 'victims of politics'.
Nanavati was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court with effect from March 6, 1995, and retired on February 16, 2000.
The Central Board of Secondary Education class 12 sociology paper held on Wednesday asked students to name the party under which the 'anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002' took place, a question the board later said was 'inappropriate' and against its guidelines.
A special court in Ahmedabad which acquitted all the 67 accused in the Naroda Gam post-Godhra riots case has criticised the probe conducted into it by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Supreme Court, and said the evidence of the prosecution's witnesses was full of contradictions and could not be relied upon.
Gujarat BJP leaders on Friday said if the physician-turned-politician, once a member of the powerful Narendra Modi ministry in the state and rising star in politics, wants to return to active politics, the saffron party will definitely assign work to her.
Following is the timeline of events in the case in which the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Special Investigation Team's (SIT) clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 riots in the state.
The Mumbai-based activist, currently in jail in Gujarat, has sought bail.
Security has been stepped up in the city and Godhra town in wake of the 10th anniversary of the Sabarmati Express train carnage, which killed 59 people and triggered large-scale communal violence in many parts of Gujarat in 2002 claiming over 1200 lives.
DFS Assistant Director D B Talati refuted any such possibility when he was cross-examined by the inquiry panel probing the fire on the train and the post-Godhra communal riots of 2002.
Praveen Togadia has said that it metes out injustice.
Sources said the commission has completed the hearing of the matter related to the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express train on February 27, 2002.
The court has asked UPA not to table the report in Parliament till the court concludes hearing on a petition filed by a relative of a survivor. \n
'Modiji did not say anything so that there was no influence. He endured all this silently'
An accused in Sabarmati Express train burning incident who was absconding since 2002 was arrested by the Godhra Local Crime Branch (LCB) in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Friday, police said.
Former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed in the incident during 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
The high court also upheld the trial court order convicting two on charges of murder and acquitted another accused Devabhai Samatbhai Bharwad.
He told the court that he had met Kodnani at Sola Civil Hospital that morning.
The Nanavati Commission, which was appointed in 2002, after five years observed that police at some places were ineffective in controlling the mob and said the post-Godhra riots that spread out in the state were "not a pre-planned conspiracy or orchestrated violence.
Kailash Dhobi is one of 11 persons convicted for murder and other offences, and is listed as accused number 1 by the SIT in the Gulberg society case in which 69 persons, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed.
'The cases on hand have no genesis in the act of terrorism or waging war against the state,' the court said.
The court had concluded the arguments on quantum of sentence on Friday last week after taking into consideration submissions made by both the prosecution and defence lawyers as well as the lawyer of the victims.
Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat assembly, Shankarsinh Waghela on Wednesday asked Prime Minister elect Narendra Modi to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya within the constitutional framework now that the Bharatiya Janata Party has got an absolute majority, in a speech that was blended with sarcasm and praise.
An ATS official said that Farooq Mohammad Bhana was one of the key accused, who hatched the conspiracy to burn the train at Godhra Railway Station on February 27, 2002.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the four major factors that contributed to Modi's win in the 2014 elections.
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