File charge sheet against Modi, others: Jafri's lawyer

The lawyer of late Congress MP Ehsan Jafri's wife Zakia today told a magistrate's court here should reject the closure report of Special Investigation Team which gives a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in the 2002 post-Godhra riots case.
Zakia Jafri, whose husband was killed during the riots, has opposed the Supreme Court-appointed SIT's report and sought filing of charge sheet against Modi and others for their alleged complicity in the riots conspiracy.
"Relying on the detailed notes on legal and factual aspects...We strongly urge the court to allow our prayers to reject the final report and to file chargesheet against the accused," said advocate Sanjay Parikh.

In his concluding argument before the Metropolitan Magistrate B J Ganatra, Parikh also urged the court to refer to the material submitted, which, he said, "prima facie establishes the commission of crime of conspiracy and abetment besides other independent offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)".
"At this stage, the court has to make a prima facie assessment to find out whether offence was committed by the accused in order to take cognisance and issue process. For this exercise, this court is neither bound by the label given to the report on investigation or the conclusions drawn by the SIT...A reasonable suspicion is enough to register a crime, not actual proof of its commission which has to be established during the trial," Parikh said.

Further hearing has been fixed on September 2 when the court has allowed the SIT lawyer to submit his reply to Jafri's contentions.