A group of prominent former civil servants on Wednesday have urged the Supreme Court to withdraw its “gratuitous observations” against social activist Teesta Setalvad and others while upholding the SIT’s clean chit to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat communal violence.
In an ‘open statement’, as many as 92 signatories also asked the apex court to issue a clarification to the effect that it was not their intention that Setalvad should face arrest. They urged the Supreme Court to order her unconditional release.
Setalvad was detained a day after the verdict and the next day Gujarat police arrested her for alleged fabrication of evidence with regard to the riot cases.
“Every day of silence lowers the prestige of the court and raises questions about its determination to uphold a core precept of the Constitution: safeguarding the basic right to life and liberty against questionable actions of the state,” said the statement.
The Bureaucrats, who signed the open letter include former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, former Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, ex-Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, former Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao, ex-IPS officer A S Dulat and former IAS officer Aruna Roy, among others.
On 24 June, the statement read that a three-judge bench verdict in the Zakia Ahsan Jafri Vs State of Gujarat, decided on to say the least, left citizens totally disturbed and dismayed.
They said asserted it is not just the dismissal of the appeal that has surprised people but the “gratuitous comments” that the Supreme Court bench made about the appellants, their counsel and supporters.
“In the most astonishing comment, the Supreme Court has lauded the officials of the Special Investigation Team who have defended the State and has excoriated the appellants who have challenged the findings of the SIT,” the statement said, citing para 88 of the judgement.
The Apex Court had upheld the SIT’s clean chit to Modi and 63 others in the 2002 communal riots on June 24, saying there is no “tittle of material” to show the violence after the Godhra train carnage was “pre-planned” owing to the criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched at the “highest level” in the state.
The statement by former civil servants urged the Supreme Court Justices to suo motu review their order and withdraw the observations contained in Para 88. “We would also request them to adopt the course of action advocated by a distinguished former member of their fraternity, Justice Madan Lokur,” it noted.
“He (Lokur) has said that the court would do well to issue a clarification to the effect that it was not their intention that Teesta Setalvad should face arrest and at the same time order her unconditional release,” the letter read.
Setalvad was sent to 14-day remand by an Ahmedabad court had on July 2.
(With inputs)
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Rabia Shireen is a Staff Reporter at The Cognate.
