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Supreme Court To Address Zakia Jafri’s Plea Against Gujarat Riots, 2002

The 2002 riots case in Gujarat is beginning to move ahead with the case. The Supreme Court today has fixed the date for April 13, 2021 to hear the plea for Zakia Jafri, wife of the Late MP Ehsan Jafri.

Supreme Court To Hear The Plea Next Month

A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar noted that senior advocate Kapil Sibal will be appearing to the court on behalf of Zakia Jafri. He informed that the matter will be heard in April as most of the advocates are busy in Maratha reservation cases. The Maratha reservation case is being heard by a five judge constitution bench.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who was appearing for the Gujarat government opposed the statement and asked for the hearing of the case being shifted to the next week. Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi who appears to the court from the Special Investigation Team also supported Mehta’s plea.

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However, the bench refused the pleas and said that the case will be heard on April 13. The bench also included Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Krishna Murari.

Last year, the Supreme Court set the date for hearing on April 14, 2020. Before that, Zakia’s counsel informed the Supreme Court that the issue needs to be addressed as a plea as the matter could be related to a “larger conspiracy” which dates from February 27, 2002 to May 2002.

Who Is Ehsan Jafri?

Ehsan Jafri was one of the sixty eight people who were killed at the Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad. He died on February 28, 2002 after the S-6 Coach of the Sabarmati Express was burnt which killed 59 people. The incident triggered riots across Gujarat.

While many claimed that the riots were originally triggered by the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 63 other with But the SIT gave them a clean chit and claimed that there was no evidence of their involvement in the riots.

Zakia took to the Supreme Court in 2018 after the High Court rejected her plea against the SIT report.

What Happened During Gujarat Riots?

While different people have different narratives of what happened during the riots. But some of the inferences have remained the same across the stories. At 7:42 am on February 27, 2002, Sabarmati Express reached the train station of Godhra. The train was carrying the Hindu Cadres (karsevaks) from Ayodhya after a vigorous support towards the building of a ram temple at a politically disputed site. However, there were some arguments between the Hindu Activists with some of the Muslim boys serving tea at the station. Soon after the emergency cord was pulled and it was attacked by a mob.

 

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Two carriages were burned which killed 58 passengers including women and children. And the riots across the state started. Some say that the government ordered revenge killings.