SC refuses to admit plea questioning SIT clean chit to Narendra Modi
With the court observing that a reconstitution of SIT at this stage is not good, petitioner Fatima A. has withdrawn the plea
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea challenging the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) clean chit to Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
With the apex court observing that a reconstitution of SIT at this stage is not good, petitioner Fatima A. has withdrawn the plea.
The bench comprising justices H.L. Dattu and S.A. Bobde refused to order an SIT overhaul.
The plea was to reconstitute the SIT by including retired judges of the apex court and a person from the minority community. “Reconstitution of SIT at this stage is not good," the bench said, referring to the plea questioning the SIT’s clean chit to Modi.
The court’s refusal to entertain the plea could be a breather for Modi, whom critics as well as activists accuse of turning a blind eye to the communal violence when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.
On 3 April, the Supreme Court, which had examined the status report filed by the SIT set up under the former Central Bureau of Investigation director R.K. Raghavan in 2008, had expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the panel in the probe into the cases related to the riots.
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