A Magistrate court in Ahmedabad is likely to pronounce on Thursday its order on Zakia Jafri's petition against the closure report of the Special Investigation Team which had probed the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's role in the post-Godhra riots in 2002.
The lawyer of Zakia Jafri on Thursday alleged before the magistrate's court here that Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 Gujarat riots cases "ignored and manipulated" conclusions of National Human Rights Commission and Chief Election Commissioner.
The Supreme Court on Friday appreciated the Special Investigation Team for the 'indefatigable work' done in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases, saying it has come out with 'flying colours unscathed' and there is no hesitation in accepting its opinion that no case has been made out to indicate a larger conspiracy to cause or precipitate mass violence against the minority community in the state.
The two were produced before metropolitan magistrate SP Patel after their police custody ended.
She had been lodged in the Sabarmati Central jail in Ahmedabad since her arrest on June 26.
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 Mumbai-based activist, currently in jail in Gujarat, has sought bail.
The Supreme Court on Thursday wondered why the Gujarat high court has listed the bail plea of activist Teesta Setalvad for hearing on September 19, six weeks after it sent a notice to the state government seeking a response to her application, and asked the state to inform it by 2 pm on Friday about whether such a precedent existed there.
The counsel of social activist Teesta Setalvad on Thursday told a sessions court in Ahmedabad that affidavits which the prosecution claims are false were signed by witnesses and submitted in different courts in the past.
'Modiji did not say anything so that there was no influence. He endured all this silently'
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 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.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to social activist Teesta Setalvad, arrested on June 25 for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame 'innocent people' in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases.
The court is likely to give its order on Tuesday on the bail pleas of Sreekumar and co-accused Setalvad, who are currently in judicial custody.
It is for the court and not the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team to decide whether the post-Godhra riots of 2002 were a result of the Gujarat government's criminal lapse as part of a larger conspiracy or not, Zakia Jafri's lawyer said.
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.
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.
The daughter of former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, has vowed to continue her fight for justice.
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.
'They don't want anybody to stand up and support the vulnerable sections of society who may be targeted.'
The Gujarat Assembly on Friday passed a resolution requesting the Centre to take strict action against BBC for tarnishing the image and popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with its documentary on the 2002 riots in the state.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hailed a Gujarat court's rejection of the protest petition against the clean chit given to Narendra Modi by the Special Investigation Team in 2002 riots as a moral victory for him and the party.
Sibal also said the present dispensation wants an 'Opposition-mukt Bharat' not just a 'Congress-mukt Bharat'.
'We are losing the battle of secularism, but we have not lost.'
Tanveer Jafri -- son of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the massacre -- speaks to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf on how the carnage was a conspiracy against the community and their continuous fight for justice.
'The place I used to sleep in the jail had a big window high up on the opposite side, where at sunrise and sunset time a bird would drop in every day.' 'It could be an eagle or a peacock. And sometimes a monkey.' 'Those moments calmed you, brought hope...'
'I don't think there is a need to order a fresh investigation into the complaint against Modi & Co. As the amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran said in his report to the Supreme Court, the existing material is more than sufficient to prosecute Modi and other high-ups of his regime,' Manoj Mitta, author of the book The Fiction Of Fact-Finding: Modi and Godhra tells Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore.
Activist Teesta Setalvad on Monday recorded her statement before the CBI in connection with a case against her firm for alleged violation of FCRA.
'The right wing has worked for 70-80 years at the grass roots before it burst onto social media.' 'Social media is an extension of its formidable work in society.' 'If you think you can fight them on social media, forget it. You can't.'
Gujarat Chief Secretary G R Aloria confirmed the development. "Services of Sanjiv Bhatt have been terminated," he said.
The Supreme Court on Monday passed judgement in the Zakia Ahsan Jafri case directing the Special Investigation Team probing Modi's role in the riots to submit its final report before a trial court.
A day after an Ahmedabad court accepted the Special Investigation Team's closure report giving clean chit to Narendra Modi in the Gulberg Society massacre case, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday demanded an apology from the Congress for carrying out a "vilification campaign" against him after the Gujarat riots.
The court said it has decided to award imprisonment for life without any time frame to the 11, who have been convicted for murder, while requesting the state not to use its power to remit the sentence after 14 years of imprisonment.
A group of noted former civil servants on Wednesday sought withdrawal of the Supreme Court's "gratuitous observations" against social activist Teesta Sitalvad and others while upholding the SIT's clean chit to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 communal riots in the state.
'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.'
Justice will finally be served in one way or another, in one form or another, Najid Hussain warns Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Sacked Gujarat cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt was rebuked for his conduct of contacting opposition Congress party, NGOs and their activists to influence the Supreme Court which on Tuesday said he has not come up with "clean hands" to question the lodging of criminal cases against him.
Of the 24 convicted, 11 have been convicted for murder and 13 for other charges.