Legal News

Supreme Court's Comments on Gujarat Government in Riot Cases, From "Modern Day Neros" to "Mere State Inaction Not Conspiracy"

By - Kshitij Srivastava

The Supreme Court recently dismissed a plea brought up by Zakia Jafri, concluding that there is no proof of a bigger conspiracy at the highest level of state personnel being responsible for the riots in Gujarat in 2002. Jafri had expressed doubts about the Special Investigation Team's closure report, which cleared 60 other high-ranking officials and the then-chief minister of Gujarat.

In addition to dismissing the plea, the three-judge panel of AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar made negative remarks about the nearly 16-year-old case, saying that it "had the chutzpah to question the integrity of every functionary engaged." According to the bench, this was done "to keep the pot boiling" and "clearly, for ulterior design."

In Zakia, the Court used the "repeated public assurances given by the then Chief Minister that guilty will be punished for their crime(s)" as another justification for disqualifying conspiracy. However, the track record of cases like Zahira Sheikh and the gang rape case that were sent outside of Gujarat raises doubts about whether such promises were kept.