The prosecution is likely to seek capital punishment for the 11 convicted who were charged with murder, while the lawyer of victims may seek life imprisonment for them.
In a big relief to activist Teesta Setalvad, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted her regular bail in a case of alleged fabrication of documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 post-Godhra riot cases while terming as "perverse" and "contradictory" the Gujarat high court order denying her bail.
A court in Ahmedabad on Sunday remanded social activist Teesta Setalvad and former state director general of police R B Sreekumar in police custody till July 2 in a case of fabricating evidence to frame innocent persons in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT), to be headed by a deputy inspector general (DIG) of Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), will probe the case against activist Teesta Setalvad and former Indian Police Service officers R B Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt who have been accused of abusing the process of law by fabricating evidence to frame innocent people in connection with the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, a senior official said on Sunday.
Ashish Pandey was arrested from Aslali locality by Crime Branch sleuths.
Apart from the Naroda Gam case, seven other 2002 post-Godhra riots cases were investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.
The judicial commission that probed the 2002 Gujarar riots said in Ahmedabad on Wednesday that there is insufficient evidence to support allegations levelled against the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi to summon him for questioning before the panel.
Former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed in the incident during 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
The action came after Amit Shah accused Teesta of giving baseless information to the police about the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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.
'Modiji did not say anything so that there was no influence. He endured all this silently'
He was elected as a local body councillor in 1976 in Bharuch Municipal body of Gujarat at the age of 25 years and became the political secretary of Sonia Gandhi and remained a bridge during UPA-I tenure between the party and the government.
Setalvad was taken into custody on June 25 last year along with former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in an offence registered by Ahmedabad crime branch police for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the post-Godhra riots cases.
The lawyer of the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the 2002 Gujarat riots on Thursday contended that Sanjeev Bhatt, suspended Indian Police Service officer, forged evidence to malign the state government.
Zakia Jafri's lawyer on Friday alleged before a court here that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had conspired to instigate Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers and other members of Hindu community after the Godhra train burning incident in 2002.
'Since 2002, we have not received any justice and we are still fighting for it.'
The inaction or failure of some officials of one section of the administration cannot be the basis to infer a pre-planned criminal conspiracy by the authorities or to term it as a state-sponsored crime against the minority community, the Supreme Court said on Friday while upholding the SIT's clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 riots.
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.
Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, on Tuesday approached the Gujarat high court challenging the Ahmedabad metropolitan court order upholding SIT's clean chit to Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi and others in connection with the 2002 riots case.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused grant bail to one of the accused in the Gulberg Society massacre case of 2002 Gujarat riots in which former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri and 67 others were killed, saying it has asked the lower court to conclude trial in three months.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked a trial court in Ahmedabad to wind up within three months the proceedings in Gulberg Society massacre case of 2002 Gujarat riots in which former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 67 others were killed.
The Gulberg massacre case verdict on Friday sparked a war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, with both the parties accusing each other of trying to turn the issue into a tool for their own political advantage.
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt wants BJP chief Amit Shah to be made a respondent for allegedly foisting wrong criminal cases against him, former additional solicitor general Indira Jaising tells Prasanna Zore/Rediff.com
The SC has stayed the arrest of social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband till Friday.
'There appears to be no end to the errors that our leaders are willing to commit and no risk they are unwilling to run,' notes Mihir S Sharma.
The bench hailed the work done so far by the SIT and allowed the request of Salve, while asking A K Malhotra, another member of the SIT, to oversee the functioning of the probe team.
Modi was at the receiving end of criticism from across the political spectrum, dubbing the barb as demeaning.
A Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Saturday rejected the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, a 2002 Gujarat riot victim, to open the final report of the Special Investigation Team.
The Gandhi statue to be unveiled in Parliament Square will be his second in London. There is another one at the city's Tavistock Square. Aditi Phadnis reports
The probe team's chief at that time, R K Raghavan, in his new book, said it required "tremendous persuasion" to make Modi agree to a short recess. "This was possibly Modi's concession to the need for a respite for Malhotra rather than for himself. Such was the energy of the man."
Of the 24 convicted, 11 have been convicted for murder and 13 for other charges.
The Apex court, however, said that the interim order providing protection from arrest to Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand shall be extended till the larger bench takes up the matter.
Religious minorities in India have been subjected to "violent attacks, forced conversions" and 'Ghar Wapsi' campaigns by groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after the Modi government assumed power in 2014, a US Congress-established panel has said.
The Congress considers the community to be in its fold without bothering about its representation or welfare while the BJP assumes that the Muslims would not vote for its candidates, says Shafeeq Rahman.
'There is nothing traitorous about highlighting the poor record of your own government. If the Indian government does something wrong, we all have the right to point this out at any forum, international or national.'
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
'Little about this regime, given its vindictive credo, is a complete surprise. But we were still taken aback by the CBI raid as it was a complete abuse of due process.' 'These are not legal inquiries, but abusive use of State power. They are not legitimate investigations, but a witch-hunt.' 'Ours is a typical, classic case of the State and its organs being used as an outlet for motivated vendetta of the vilest kind.'
'Muslims and Dalits must erase the way they remember their past, or carry out their their performances in private,' says Jyoti Punwani, as Maharashtra's Censor Board denies permission to a play Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat.
The activist and her husband have allegedly embezzled funds from riot victims.
On Monday, prosecution had sought death penalty for all the 24 people convicted for the gruesome killings.
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