Gujarat riots: case exists for Modi’s prosecution, says amicus curiae

While Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's alleged instructions to officials to allow Hindus to vent their anger on Muslims after the Godhra train fire incident may not amount to conspiracy to murder, it could still form the basis for his prosecution under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections153A, 153B, 505 and 166, according to a confidential report prepared by amicus curiae to the Supreme Court Raju Ramachandran.

The report has recently been submitted to the Special Investigation Team investigating the 2002 Gujarat riots, which were mainly a pogrom against the Muslim community. It also says there is no ''clinching evidence'' to dispute the presence of suspended Gujarat police officer Sanjiv Bhatt at a meeting called by Modi on the night of 27 February  2002.

Bhatt has alleged that Modi instructed police and officials at that meeting to go easy on the rioters and let them have their way.  

Ramachandran is understood to have stated in his report that the fate of the case against all the accused, including Modi, can be decided only after all witnesses, including Bhatt, are cross-examined.

The primary mover of the complaint against Modi and others is Zakia Jafri, widow of late Congress MP Ehsaan Jafri, who was burnt alive with 68 others at the Gulberg Housing Society in Ahmedabad a day after the alleged meeting took place at Modi's residence.

If the court accepts Bhatt's version of what Modi said at the meeting, all those named in the complaint, including the chief minister, may face trial for criminal offences such as statements promoting enmity between communities, imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration, statements conducive to public mischief, and public servants disobeying a direction of the law with the intent to cause injury.