SC RESTRAINS TRIAL COURT FROM PRONOUNCING JUDGEMENT

The Supreme Court on May 6 restrained the trial court from pronouncing its judgement in 2002 Gujarat riots cases but refused to stay the ongoing trial as sought by certain NGOs and rights activists. “The trial court shall proceed with the trial but no judgement shall be pronounced,” a bench of Justices D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and Aftab Alam said. The apex court also appointed A.K. Malhotra, a former DIG of CBI, to verify allegations of lapses in investigations being conducted by Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the riots. The Bench passed the direction while dealing with the plea of the NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace of Teesta Setalvad and some rights activists who had sought a stay of the trial and sought reconstitution of SIT for its alleged bias. The apex court said Malhotra would verify the allegations after examining the reply filed by SIT on the issue, and submit his report to the court.