Modi within his rights not to appear before SIT: activists

AHMEDABAD - The notice issued by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for questioning in connection with the 2002 communal riots lacks statutory sanction and was not binding on him, according to activists representing the riot victims.

Mukul Sinha of the Jan Sangharsh Manch said: “Initially it was believed that the notice had been issued under section 160 of the CrPC (where police have the power to require attendance of witnesses) but now we learn that such is not the case.”

Sinha is representing the 2002 riot victims before the Nanavati-Mehta Judicial Enquiry Commission probing the Godhra train carnage and the communal riots that followed.

Narendra Modi did not appear before the SIT here on Sunday.

Former additional Director General of Police R.B. Sreekumar, who faced the Modi government’s wrath over his disclosures about the state government’s alleged tacit support to the riots, also feels that “the sort of notice issued by the SIT hardly serves the purpose of justice”.

“It has no legal value. Conducting a thorough investigation entails registering an FIR and issuing summons under the CrPC. Disregard of such a summons can invite arrest,” he added.

Controversy has been brewing over the role of the SIT with activists now urging the Supreme Court to reconstitute it.

The matter is slated to come up for hearing next month. Two public prosecutors in the Gulbarg Society massacre case, R.K. Shah and Naina Bhatt, had recently quit the case citing differences with the SIT.

Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among those killed in Gulbarg Society, Ahmedabad, during the post-Godhra riots, had named Modi and 63 top politicians, police officers and government officials for their role behind the larger conspiracy in the 2002 communal riots.

Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kalu Maliwad has challenged the earlier apex court order in this regard and the matter is slated to come up before the Supreme Court next month.

On March 11, the apex court-appointed SIT had summoned Modi to appear before it on March 21 for questioning over the communal violence at Gulbarg Society. The summons came in response to the case filed by Zakia Jafri.

Jafri was among the 69 killed in the 2002 Gulbarg Society riots in Ahmedabad.