Can SIT report on Zakia’s plea be made public? Court decision today

The court may decide on Thursday whether the SIT report on the probe into role of chief minister Narendra Modi and 61 others in 2002 riots be made public or not. Hearing on the SIT report has been scheduled for March 15.

While the SIT had submitted the final report last month, it submitted all related documents to the court of metropolitan magistrate MS Bhatt on Tuesday. The SIT had undertaken a probe into the alleged role of Modi and others on a directive from the Supreme Court,   which had acted on a petition by Zakia Jafri.

After the SIT submitted the final report to the court last month, Zakia and other victims of Gulbarg Society massacre had sought a copy of the report.  But the court did not decide on the matter after SIT protested against making it public.

Zakia had moved the Supreme Court, saying that the police should lodge a complaint against Modi and others for their negligence and complicity in the 2002 communal riots. Acting on the plea, the Apex Court had directed the SIT to investigate the matter.

Accordingly, the SIT took statements of Modi and others named in the complaint.

When the SIT submitted the final report last month, it was widely speculated that Modi had been given a clean chit because of lack of evidence.