It is premature to say Monday's Supreme Court order asking the Gujarat trial court to take a final decision on “is either a clean chit to Chief Minister Narendra Modi or an indictment,” amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran told The Hindu here.
It “is an impeccable order which upholds the rule of law. It protects the rights of both the complainant and the potential accused. The law will now take its course.”
In April 2009, the Supreme Court asked the Special Investigation Team headed by R.K. Raghavan to probe Ms. Jafri's complaint that Mr. Modi and 61 others orchestrated the post-Godhra riots in 2002. Her husband, Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was killed in the Gulberg Society carnage in Ahmedabad. The SIT submitted its report in May 2010 and the court asked the amicus curiae to independently review it.
Mr. Ramachandran submitted his report after examining witnesses and analysing the SIT report. The amicus curiae also went into senior police officer Sanjiv Bhatt's affidavit that he was present at a meeting Mr. Modi convened on February 27, 2002, where, he alleged, instructions were given to teach Muslims a lesson.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ramachandran said: “I have handed over my report to the SIT. My report contains an independent assessment of the material on record, which was given after an interaction with relevant witnesses. The SIT report and my report would be before the trial court. I have no doubt that the trial court will act in accordance with the law and that the ends of justice will be met. It is premature to talk of either a clean chit or indictment. That stage can come [only] before the trial court when the law is set in motion.”
