Ahmedabad: The special court hearing the Gulbarg Society massacre case related to the 2002 Gujarat riots has turned down a petition seeking a stay on court proceedings till the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team filed a chargesheet in the case.
Judge BJ Dhandha, hearing the case, observed that the Supreme Court has stayed the pronouncement in the case and not asked to not continue with the trial.
The SIT has said that it would be submitting its final report soon and argued that staying the trial despite the assurance would not be in interest of the case.
The court agreed with the argument made by the special public prosecutor for SIT, RC Kodekar that the application has been made at the fag end of the trial and "if stay is granted it would not be in the interest of justice."
The advocate for the victims SM Vohra had sought stay on the order to approach the High Court. The court denied it and asked Vohra to file a revision application against today's order and said while the arguments are on, he could approach the Gujarat High Court.
Zakia Jaffri, the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri who was killed in the massacre along with 69 others during the Gujarat riots on February 28, 2002, had moved the application for a stay on the proceedings.
On September 12, the Supreme Court, had refused to pass any order on an application filed by Zakia Jafri alleging inaction on the part of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during the riots.
The Supreme Court had referred the matter to the magistrate concerned in Ahmedabad for a decision.
Zakia has alleged that Modi and 62 top Gujarat government officials deliberately refused to take action to contain riots, triggered by the February 27, 2002 Sabarmati Express train burning near Godhra station in which 59 karsewaks were killed.
(With additional information from PTI)
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