AHMEDABAD: A local court on Wednesday deferred Zakia Jafri's plea seeking a copy of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) report on the Gulbarg Society massacre case that left 69 people dead, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri.
The court ruled that it cannot admit Zakia's plea until all the documents in the case are submitted by the SIT.
On February 9, Zakia Jafri filed a protest plea after the SIT submitted its final report giving a clean chit to to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the post-Godhra riots case.
A statement from Jafri and activist Teesta Setalvad said they have sought a copy of the report. They said if it is a closure report, a protest petition would be filed.
A magisterial court has issued a notice to the Special Investigation Team after Setalvad and another activist, Mukul Sinha, separately sought copies of the SIT report.
Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed with 68 others at Gulbarg Society, had filed a petition blaming Modi and 62 others for inciting violence.
The BJP, meanwhile, said this was the third time Modi has been given a clean chit and the matter should be dropped now.
"If the report is right, then I would like to say this issue has been probed three times now," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
"The first probe was by Gujarat Police, then the Geeta Johri enquiry, that was also under Supreme Court, and the third by this SIT of Supreme Court."
On poll tour in Uttar Pradesh, Jaitley said, "All three reports are speaking the same language. I believe this chapter should be closed now. Those who want to keep this issue alive now only have a political motive."
He also mentioned that the high court order saying the government should bear the expenses for repairing the damage to religious monuments during the riots, and said even as the court order should be followed, a secular government should not spend the exchequer's money on religious monuments.
