Gujarat riots: Court gives Zakia Jafri time till November 7

A local court on Tuesday granted more time to Zakia Jafri to file a protest petition challenging the closure report of the SC-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) which gave a clean chit to Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the 2002 riot cases.

The court of metropolitan magistrate B J Ganatra directed Zakia to either inform the court about the status of the Special Leave Petition (SLP) she had filed in the Supreme Court or file a protest petition by November 7.

Zakia, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Zafri who was killed by a mob in Gulbarg Society during 2002 riots, had sought more time to file the protest petition on the ground that her plea seeking clarification on certain issues has been pending with the Supreme Court.

Zakia’s counsel S M Vora had earlier argued, “We have moved Supreme Court to seek clarification that its order on Zakia’s case (ordering probe by SIT) was not only limited to Gulbarg Society,” he had said.

 The SIT had opposed Zakia’s plea on the ground that even though she had filed a petition, the apex court has not yet given any stay order on proceedings of this court. The probe agency argued that Zakia should be directed to file her protest petition as soon as possible and not be granted additional time.