Zakia Jafri to pursue Gujarat riots case in High Court

Vowing to continue her fight, Zakia Jafri, whose plea against Special Investigation Team (SIT) closure report in 2002 Gujarat riots case was rejected by a district court, on Thursday said she will approach the High Court with her case.

"I will not give up my fight but I have to do more things. I will approach the High Court. I have not lost hope yet," said Jafri.

On the court rejecting the evidence placed by her, Jafri said, "The other courts will consider the evidence, if not this court."

Jafri's lawyer Mihir Desai said, "We can give opinion on the judgement when we get the copy of it. One thing is clear that the evidence collected by the SIT was sufficient to implicate the person against whom we had filed this petition.

"Secondly there was a lot of other evidence also, which the SIT should have collected but they didn't go deep into it. We contended on both of these points but the court rejected both the points," he said.

"These things happen in a court of law. There is a hierarchy of courts, which are meant to correct the judgements of lower courts," he added.

Earlier today, a district court rejected the plea of Zakia Jafri against Special Investigation Team (SIT) closure report that gave a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in 2002 Gujarat riots.

Magistrate BJ Ganatra had earlier said he would deliver the order on October 28, but it was deferred to December 2, and then to December 26.

Zakia Jafri is the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among 69 people killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre here during the 2002 riots.

SIT had submitted its report on February 8 last year, clearing Modi's name in any conspiracy.

She had filed a petition against the SIT report in April seeking its rejection and an order to file chargesheet against Modi and others during the 2002 riots.