Srinagar, August 30, 2022 (PPI-OT):In yet another display of bias against the Muslims, the Supreme Court of India has closed pending pleas in connection with the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat, saying that the cases have become “infructuous with the passage of time”.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, on Tuesday noted that only one trial in the Naroda Gam case is pending. It asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take steps to bring the case to a conclusion. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the bench, “This court had appointed an SIT for nine major trials in the Gujarat riots. In all cases, except one, trials have been concluded and appeals are pending in high courts or the Supreme Court.”

“Only in 1 out of the 9 – Naroda Gam case – the trial is at final argument stage,” Rohatgi said. The bench was informed that multiple transfer petitions were filed between 2008 and 2010 which have now become infructuous. On activist Teesta Setalvad’s bail plea, the Supreme Court said her plea can be considered by an appropriate authority. Teesta Setalvad’s separate case was being heard by a different bench of the Supreme Court today.

Teesta Setalvad was detained on June 25, this year, a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by her along with Zakia Jafri, whose husband Ehsan Jafri was murdered during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The petition sought to probe the role of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then Gujarat’s Chief Minister. Her arrest was widely condemned. Teesta Setalvad is an Indian civil rights activist and journalist. She is the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, an organisation formed to advocate for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots.

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