Mano ya Na-Mo Hasn’t the Special Investigative Team (SIT) done the most detailed investigation against Modi? If they have given him a clean chit, why should he still be held culpable for the riots of 2002? The SIT’s investigation was anything but detailed and the so-called clean chit is, at best, dubious. The SIT was constituted with the sole aim of establishing whether there was enough evidence to prosecute Modi for personal involvement, and not to establish criminal culpability conclusively. Moreover, even though the SIT has stated that judicial proceedings against Modi are impeded by a lack of evidence, a senior advocate appointed by the Supreme Court thinks otherwise. According to him, a prima facie case against Modi can be drawn up and brought to the courts. Similarly, investigative journalist Manoj Mitta (who had severely criticized the investigation of the 1984 riots) in his recent book on the SIT investigation of 2002 has confirmed that the investigation was a shoddy affair. He points out that during the so-called interrogation, Modi was neither legally obliged to tell the truth nor was he cross-examined on a single response. The contradictions in Modi’s own statements that the SIT let go unchallenged reveals a narrow understanding of what constitutes legally permissible evidence (for details, see this link). If the SIT was indeed keen on establishing culpability it could have looked for undisputed facts elsewhere: - Modi kept the army at bay and allowed the massacre to carry on for far longer (three days) than it would take to rein in supposedly “unruly thugs”. - Police officers who tried to prevent murders were transferred from their posts immediately. - The Gujarat police obstructed the filing of FIRs against rioters; - Investigation of cases against the rioters by the Gujarat law enforcement agencies was slipshod, or obstructive; - The Supreme Court itself has accused the Public Prosecutor of Gujarat of acting on behalf of the accused rather than against them. - Little or no support was offered to victims in the immediate aftermath of the riots. All these point to an efficient institutional mechanism with the explicit purpose of obstructing justice. More recently, Zakia Jafri has made an appeal in the Gujarat High Court against this clean-chit, alleging that the SIT has not conducted a free and fair investigation. Indeed, with Modi being at the helm of affairs and controlling the direction of the investigation, it seems that the one giving out a clean chit to Modi is Modi himself. ************************************************ Brought to you by the #NOMOre Campaign, Mano ya Na-Mo is a pre-election series which aims to bust the myths perpetuated by Narendra Modi. We challenge his empty rhetoric with hard facts, so that voters can cast an informed vote. NOMOre Lies! NOMOre false promises!
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 15:04:05 +0000
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