SIT seeks to keep its Gujarat riots report under wraps

The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday opposed sharing its final report on the probe into allegations of chief minister Narendra Modi's involvement in 2002 riots with anyone, including complainant Zakia Jafri, at this juncture.

Zakia's husband Ehsan Jafri, a former Congress MP, was among the 69 people killed in the Gulberg Society riots after the Godhra train-burning incident. The court reserved its order on the matter till Wednesday.

The SIT was opposing a series of applications demanding a certified copy of its report that was submitted before the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court last week. The SIT said most of the applicants had no locus standi to demand the report.

Apart from Zakia, activist Teesta Setalvad, activist-cum-lawyer Amrish Patel, and Faqir Mohammed, another kin of a victim in the Gulberg Society massacre, have moved applications seeking the SIT report.

Zakia's counsel S M Vohra argued that the court should open the report and see if it is a closure report against the accused and if the SIT has complied with the Supreme Court direction to submit all documents on the basis of which it has prepared the report.

Opposing the applications, SIT counsel R S Jamuvar said the SIT has submitted the report running into around 550 pages under the direction of the Supreme Court. He said at present, nobody has any locus standi to get copy of the report until the court goes through it.

For Setalvad, the SIT counsel argued that she is not a complainant in the matter and is an intervener.