Ahmedabad metropolitan court magistrate SM Bhatt has ruled that the SIT report on Gulbarg massacre will be given to Zakia Jafri, a complainant in the case. The court has, however, rejected the petitions of activists Teesta Setalvad and Mukul Sinha seeking access to the report which was submitted on Feb. 8. The SIT lawyer had objected sharing the report on the ground that the activists have no involvement in the case while the aggrieved party and complainant Zakia Jafri can be provided copy of the report only after the court has taken cognizance of the same.
The report deals with the SIT investigation into complaint of Zakia Jafri, who had demanded a criminal case against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 other individuals who were named in the complaint for massacre in Gulbarg society in which 69 people including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri were killed during the 2002 riots. Social activists fighting for justice in Gujarat have demanded access to the report contending that once submitted it is a public document under the Indian Evidence Act. They also sought to know from the court that whether the SIT headed by Dr RK Raghavan had submitted the entire report including the relevant documents and investigation papers in compliance with the SC order.