Zakia Jafri's plea: Communal violence is like lava erupting from volcano, Kapil Sibal tells SC

The senior advocate, who was representing Jafri, said a message must be sent to the world that this is 'unacceptable'

Zakia Jafri, the wife of slain Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who challenged the clean chit to then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots cases, on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that communal violence is like lava erupting from volcano, be it by any community, and it leaves the earth fertile for future revenge.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Zakia, turned emotional before a three-judge bench presided over by Justice A M Khanwilkar, to point out he lost his maternal parents to communal violence during the partition.

He raised questions over the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team. Sibal said his concern was really for the future.

"I don't want to accuse A or B. A message must be sent to the world that this is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated," he submitted.

He claimed, "The SIT did not do any investigation. This is in respect of my complaint which talks about a larger criminal conspiracy."

Read | 'Bureaucratic inaction behind 2002 Gujarat riots'

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, arguing on behalf of the SIT, countered him, saying that it had investigated all the cases in a detailed and proper manner.

Rohatgi said that there were nine major cases, nine FIRs, and the Gulberg society is the case where the husband of complainant was killed.

"They took up all major cases and filed chargesheets in each of those cases. Many supplementary chargesheets were filed," he said.

Sibal, for his part, said, "The SIT did not record statements. It accepted statements of accused and file closure report. It did not seize phone, never examined CDR, never checks why records were destroyed and never checked why policemen were standing by."

The most damaging fact was that the SIT ignored the sting operation reports of Tehalka which were treated as extra-judicial confession in other proceedings such as Naroda Patiya case, he alleged.

The top court would continue to hear the matter on Thursday.

81-year-old, Zakia filed the petition against the Gujarat High Court's order of October 5, 2017 which upheld the clean chit given to Modi and others by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.

The petitioner, whose husband was burnt to death in their house Gulberg society, contended Modi, and 59 others, including bureaucrats and police officers, should be made accused for being a part of criminal conspiracy for the 2002 riots.

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