New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 30, disposed of a batch of pleas seeking a proper investigation of the violence that took place during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The pleas included transfer petitions filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking that the cases be transferred from the Gujarat police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as well as Special Leave Petitions (SLP) filed by riot victims and a writ petition filed by NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, headed by jailed activist Teesta Setalvad.
The court, however, noted that since the court had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the cases and that investigation and prosecution is complete in all but one of the nine cases, the petitions are now infructuous (unnecessary).
The matter was being heard by a bench of the new Chief Justice of India, U.U. Lalit, as well as Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and J.B. Pardiwala.
Counsel for the SIT, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi told the court trial is pending only in the case of the violence at Naroda Gaon and that the other eight cases are already in the appellate stages in the high courts and Supreme Court.
Further, the court noted that the counsels for the petitioners had fairly accepted the SIT’s statement.
This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here
