India: Daughter of Ahsan Jafri Petitions Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

27 March 2010

PRESS RELEASE

Daughter of the murdered M.P. Ahsan Jafri urges Supreme Court Justice K.G. Balakrishnan not to preside over the convocation where Chief Minister Modi will be Chief Guest

A petition started by the daughter of Ahsan Jafri, the former M.P. who was murdered during the Gujarat massacre of 2002, and signed by hundreds of peace loving Indians and other world citizens, is submitted to Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, and Justice Ahmed Musa Ebrahim, the Former Judge of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe, urging them not to share the platform with the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi.

Justice Balakrishnan and Justice Ahmed Musa Ebrahim are invited by the Gujarat National Law University to preside over its first annual convocation, to be held on Sunday, the 28th of March, where CM Narendra Modi would be the Chief Guest.

Outlining the concerns of the victims of Gujarat massacre of 2002, the petition says, “An association of the Chief Justices of India and Zimbabwe with a person who is being examined for his role in the killing of innocent people, under the directives of the Supreme Court will send out wrong signals and undermine the process of justice in Gujarat.”

It further states, “we are at an important threshold of the justice process in Gujarat against the Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the case for conspiracy into mass murder (Zakia Ahsan Jafri and Citizens for Justice and Peace). For the first time in the history of this country the chief minister will be questioned by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into direct allegations of his complicit role in the 2002 violence.”

The Petition applauds the role played by the Supreme Court in ensuring justice in Gujarat, “You have been a staunch supporter of this struggle”, and reminds the Justices, “Not long ago, Supreme Court of India had called the Chief Minister Narendra Modi a modern day “Nero”.
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The Petition is located at: http://www.petitiononline.com/cjp2010/petition.html