Zakia Jafri, the widow of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri and a key figure in the long struggle fꦡ🎉or justice following the 2002 Gujarat riots passed away on Saturday at the age of 86.
She reportedly died at her home in Ahmedabad due to age-related complications, surrounded by her family, including her US-based daughter𓂃 Nishrin. Her son Tanveer, who resides in Surat, confirmed the news, stating that she passed away around 11:30 am.
Zakia Jafri is expected to ꦇbe laid to rest beside her late husband in Ahmedaba𒈔d.
Zakia Jafri’s life was marked by her relentless pursuit of justice for the victims of the horrific Gulberg Society massacre, which occurred in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident on February 27, 200𓆏2.
On February 28, 2002, 𒈔her husband Ahsan Jafri was among 68 people k🌜illed by a mob that attacked the gated Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad.
For years, Zakia sought legal battle against state functionaries, alleging a larger conspiracy behind the violence. Her legal battle began in 2006, when she filed a complaint accusing Gujarat’s then-chief minister Narendra Modi, and several others, of compl𓂃icity in the riots. This move set the stage for one of the most high-profile legal struggles in modern Indian history.
In her complaint, she highlighted “a larger conspiracy” behind the post-Godhra riots through bureaucratic inaction, police complicity and hate speech and demanded a chargesheet against then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and others.
She had accused the Gujarat government of delaying the deployment of the Army to contain the riots in view of insufficient police personnel and had approached the Gujarat High Court seeking that her complaint be treated as an FIR.
After the HC rejected her plea, she moved the apex court, which directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed by it in 2008 to look into the riots cases, to also conside𝕴r her complaint. After the Supreme Court-appointed SIT filed🐷 a closure report in February 2012 and gave a clean chit to Modi and 63 others saying there was “no prosecutable evidence” against them, Jafri filed a protest petition in the metropolitan magistrate court seeking rejection of this report.
However, the metropolitan magistrate rejected her protest petition and accepted the SIT’s final report. Zakia, then, moved Gujarat High Court, which dismissed her petition in 2017. She then approached the Supreme Court c🌃hallenging t🌌he SIT’s clean chit to Modi and 63 others.
An SC bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar upheld the൩ decision of the Ahmedabad court to accept the SIT's closure report, thereby rejecting her protes🐓t petition.
In its June 24, 2022♐ order, the apex court said it found Zakia Jafri's appeal “devoid of merits”.
Human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, who was Zakia’s co-petitioner, expressed her sorrow on social media, writing, “Zakia Appa, a compassionate leader of the human rights🐻 community, passed away just 30 minutes ago. Her visionary presence will be missed by the nation, family, friends, and the world.”
Zakia’s determination made her a s🔯ymbolic figure for human rights in India. She regularly visited the remains of her home in Gulberg Society on the anniversary of the massacre. Her d♏eath marks the end of an era for those who have followed the legal saga of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
