Don’t pass final order on SIT closure report: SC to trial court

The Supreme Court Thursday restrained a Gujarat trial court from passing a final order on the closure report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the 2002 Gulberg Society riot case until it decided a plea by Zakia Jafri, wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, over making available to her all the documents relating to the case.

"The final order on the closure report shall not be pronounced till the disposal of this case here," a Special Bench of justices D K Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam said.

The court also issued a notice to the state government and sought its response on the petition by Zakia, who has contended that she could not file a proper protest petition against the closure report unless she was furnished all the documents relating to the probe by the SIT in the case.

Jafri was among 69 people killed by a mob during the riots at Gulberg Housing Society in the city on February 28, 2002.

Zakia further sought a stay on the proceedings in the trial court, arguing that the Ahmedabad court had on November 27 last accepted the SIT closure report of March 2012 in the case and it could pronounce the final order any day now.

While issuing notice to the government, the Bench also questioned if the state could argue anything in the matter since the SIT was constituted by the court orders and hence its reports were the court's properties.

In another related development, senior advocate Harish Salve, who has been assisting the court as amicus curiae in nine of the post-Godhra riots cases, said he would wish to move an application for relocating key witnesses and for continuing with their security.

On the issue of supplying SIT reports to Zakia, Salve raised the contention that six trials have already been concluded in related cases and if the apex court now allowed the report to be given to anyone, accused in those cases could also rake up the same issue.

... contd.

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