Clean Chit to Modi: What the Court order actually says?

Ahmedabad, December 27: Rejecting a petition against the Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi filed by Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan Jafri was burnt alive during the riots, the court said there was no evidence of a conspiracy on part of the chief minister and his cabinet, who had been accused of delaying calling in the army to check the riots. "There are enough checks and balances guaranteed by the Constitution so that the executive doesn't subvert the judicial process," the court said.

Jafri had challenged the closure report of a Supreme-Court-appointed Special Investigation Team that said there was no prosecutable evidence against Modi.

Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate B J Ganatra in his order not only gives a clean chit to Modi but it places the facts in an undeniable manner which is quite enough to clear the air.

Modi shown alacrity in requisitioning the army
Upholding the SIT observation that there was no conspiracy in what was seen as the late requisitioning of the army by the Chief Minister the Court says, “The army was called on the afternoon of February 28. Since the army was not available in Ahmedabad, they had to be airlifted. It shows no conspiracy on part of the Chief Minister and his cabinet as they had shown alacrity in requisitioning the army.”

The Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team had said that while the Centre was informed about the need to call in the army on February 27, when the Godhra train burning planted the seeds of violence, logistical support for army deployment could only take place at 2:30 pm on March 1.

Court dismissed "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide” as foreign terms
The Ahmedabad metropolitan Court order has some message for those who simply went on vilifying Narendra Modi to the extreme extent and decisively created an atmosphere of confusion and hatred.

In the petition against the SIT report which on which found no role of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in fuelling the riot and Gulberg Society killing case, Zakia Jafri had used the expressions "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide". Condemning the use of those words, the Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate B J Ganatra dismissed both "foreign terms" as not applicable while rejecting Zakia's petition. Notably Ganatra also rejected the "larger conspiracy" argument raised by Jafri and her mentor Teesta Setalvad.

In the order the Court says, “Based on all the witness statements and documents on record, this court has to see whether the Gulberg Society incident was because of a conspiracy by powerful people in the state government or not. And whether, as the complainant says, this can be called 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide'.”

The court enlightened the petitioners telling that the origin of the expressions and notes that "ethnic cleansing" was first used during the struggle that broke out over the division of Yugoslavia, where people were killed based on community. Court also said that the term “genocide” is a Greek and Latin usage which means the killing of people on the basis of race.

The Court order excerpts shared by Indian Express say – “With reference to the above allegations and based on records placed before this court, the burning of the train at Godhra railway station cannot be called a preplanned conspiracy by government functionaries and the court believes that it cannot be equated to complicity by authorities. Taking into account the complainant's projection of these incidents as very serious and the allegations against Narendra Modi and his people in power and the specific allegations on their mindset, based on the material placed on record and arguments put forward by the complainant, the foreign terms used in this protest petition cannot be taken into consideration.”

Claim for ‘Larger Conspiracy’ found no ground
Rejecting the ‘larger conspiracy’ claim by the petitioners, the Court opined that the allegations leveled were collective, unclear and general.

"Evidence is not satisfactory to prove an alleged larger conspiracy by accused number one Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others...” said the Court.

Court order observes that – “To maintain law and order, the state government, in the afternoon of February 28, 2002, asked for military and paramilitary forces. Besides, Modi appealed on Doordarshan for peace from both communities again and again. Taking the records placed by the special investigation team, the court can't consider that there was a conspiracy...".

"Gujarat has a history of communal violence. In view of this, the court cannot agree with the complainant that Narendra Modi did not take any action under the circumstances to maintain law and order. When required, curfew was [imposed].”

IPS officers’ affidavits not reliable
The Court noted the horrors of communal violence being portrayed by Zakia Jafri as personal feelings and rejected IPS officers’ records non-reliable.

The Court order says- "RB Sreekumar, Sanjiv Bhatt and Rahul Sharma's record supporting the allegations as evidence, prima facie, in view of the court, are not enough to proceed. Zakia Jafri has shown the horrors of communal riots. This court can take it as personal feeling but it cannot be considered important for the case. The affidavits of Sanjiv Bhatt and Sreekumar included in the evidence prima facie are not reliable..."

"The SIT has established that Sanjiv Bhatt was not present in the February 27 meeting at the chief minister's residence..."

"The court is of the opinion that the state government was taking the efforts needed to maintain law and order. The court cannot comment whether these efforts were [effective] or not."

Also overruled…
The order says there is no evidence to suggest that bodies of the Kar Sevaks were paraded to incite communal fury. "It was necessary to bring the bodies of the Godhra carnage victims to Ahmedabad," it said. The Special Investigation Team report had said that the decision to shift the bodies to Ahmedabad was taken at a closed door meeting which included Modi and his ministers Ashok Bhatt and Gordhan Zadaphia.

Most important is Court order clearing the air on Modi’s Modi's statement on "action and reaction" saying that the statement should be seen in toto and his entire statement was not provocative. Modi had said, "Every action causing an equal and opposite reaction. I don't want action; neither do I want any reaction."

Blamegame continues: Lesson not learnt

Ever after the Courts and the SITs in India announce him untainted, the Congress is in no mood to accept the fact and some elements cant digest that Modi has actually no hand in propagating the communal violence caused after the unfortunate incident of burning the innocent Karsevaks alive in the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station on 27 February 2002.

Though Gujarat court on Thursday gave a clean chit Narendra Modi in the most famous and most chewed 2002 Gujarat riots case, the rhetorical trend to brand Narendra Modi as a riot conspirator, fanatic and communal, still continues. In all those years the activists like Teesta Setalvad, Angana Chatterji and Mallika Sarabhai relentlessly defamed, demeaned Narendra Modi by making fatal assaults on his character who now crying foul terming the Court orders are ‘bias’.

Zakia Jafri has said that she will keep her fight on until justice is delivered. Most disappointed Teesta Setalvad expressed her anguish with district court’s decision to reject the plea of Zakia Jafri against Special Investigation Team closure report in 2002 Gujarat riots and maintained that the court rejected crucial evidence collected by the SIT.

The Ahmedabad metropolitan court has definitely a significant message for all those who milked on the unfortunate riots in Gujarat in 2002. The nation will gain if they understandd and leave a game of spreading hatred.