Amicus differs with SIT’s view on case against CM

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will issue directions in the petition filed by Jakia Jafri after amicus curiae outlined certain points of probe against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who had got a reprieve from the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
A bench of Justices D K Jain, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam perused amicus and senior advocate Raju Ramachandran’s detailed views on the SIT’s report and said, “We have read reports by the SIT and the amicus and will issue certain directions soon.”
Ramachandran visited Gujarat to verify certain findings of the SIT, headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan. The amicus has differed with the SIT report on some points and disagreed with its finding that there was “no prosecutable evidence” against Modi.
These points of disagreement between the amicus and SIT could be further investigated, sources said. The SC’s order on the two reports will decide whether Modi would be out of the sphere of accusation that he did not act promptly to quell the violent mob that went on a rampage immediately after the Godhra train burning incident. Dealing with SIT’s investigation report on a complaint by Jafri, who had accused Modi and 62 other politicians, bureaucrats and cops of abandoning their constitutional duty to protect lives and allowing the post-Godhra riots to go on, the amicus on March 15 had pointed to mismatch between the conclusion and the evidence recorded by SIT.
Ramachandran was also asked to give his views on the affidavit of IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who had accused Modi of refusing to rein in the violent mob during a highlevel meeton February 27, 2002, immediately after the Godhra train burning case.
Ramachandran interacted with several witnesses connected with the matter before giving his report to the court. He also dealt with an affidavit filed by a journalist supporting Bhatt’s claim that the IPS officer was present during the meeting at Modi's residence.