Ignoring calls of shunning a function attended by Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Sunday shared the dais with the Gujarat chief minister at convocation in Gandhinagar, hours after he was questioned by Special Investigation Team in the 2002 riots case. Some of the riot victims and kin of former MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulburg Society riots - the case in which Modi had been quizzed- had made an online appeal urging the CJI and Justice A M Ebrahim, former judge of Zimbabwe Supreme Court, not to share the stage with Modi at the first convocation of Gujarat National Law University. At the function, Balakrishnan sat on the right side of Modi, while Gujarat High Court Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhyay was seated on the left of the chief minister. During his address, Justice Ebrahim acknowledged Modi for his statement on Saturday after his questioning by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT that ‘no one was above the law'. Justice Ebrahim said he “very much agreed” with the statement of Modi. The Gujarat Chief Minister, however, did not make any speech during the convocation. Gujarat Congress too had said that “it would not be proper” for Balakrishnan to share the dais with Modi as he had been questioned by the SIT on a complaint by Ehsan's widow Zakia Jafri. The open letter by Zakia and others had said, “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.” Modi quizzed by SIT, says it is over Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who submitted himself to marathon questioning by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in a Gujarat riots case, has claimed his quizzing, the first since the communal violence eight years ago, has concluded. “I have been told by SIT that your work is over”, 59-year -old Modi said on Sunday emerging from the second round of his questioning at the SIT office at the old secretariat building. He claimed he had answered all questions put by the SIT and that he had recalled to the extent possible the sequence of events that had taken place eight years ago. The Chief Minister said his statement was recorded by the SIT investigators after which he signed it. Asked what sort of questions he was asked, Modi said, “I cannot share that with you because the SIT has to submit its report to the Supreme Court.” Though there was no official word on the questioning, Modi is said to have replied to 62 of the 68 questions put to him in the five-hour-long first session that had begun at noon on Saturday. The controversial BJP leader is facing allegations of omission and commission with regard to the mob attack on a housing society in which a former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed. He was questioned by a team of officers headed by A K Malhotra, a former CBI DIG. When pointed out that he had been in the dock for the last eight years over the riots, a smiling Modi said, “You have still kept me in the dock. We spoke in detail,” he said, adding, “Under the Indian Constitution, the law is supreme. As a common man, CM, I am bound by the Indian Constitution and the law. No one can be above the law. This was the first time in eight years that someone wanted to speak to me on the issue and I attended that”, Modi said. Asked if the questions put to him related to Gulburg Society riot case, Modi said, “Questions ranged from February 27 (2002) till the elections”. On number of questions asked by SIT, he said, “I have not counted them”. Asked if he was satisfied with the SIT investigations, Modi said, “The Supreme Court has to be satisfied”. The complaint filed by Zakia, among other things, alleged there was a wider conspiracy by Modi and his administration and that he had instructed officers not to take action. “My appearance here is a “karara jawab” (fitting reply) to my detractors. I have given a resounding reply to those who doubted my intentions. I hope such talks by vested interests will stop,” Modi said.
