NDLI: Zakia Ahsan Jafri Vs. State of Gujarat & Anr.

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Gujarat Riots – Godhra incident of 27.2.2002 in which large number of Kar-sevaks returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive in train bogies
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5 Referred Case 6 Referred Case 7 Referred Case 8 Referred Case 9 Referred Case 10 Referred Case 11 Referred Case 12 Referred Case 13 Referred Case 14 Referred Case 15 Referred Case 16 Referred Case 17 Referred Case 18 Referred Case 19 Referred Case 20 Referred Case 21 Referred Case 22 Referred Case 23 Referred Case 24 Referred Case 25 Referred Case 26 Referred Case 27 Referred Case 28 Referred Case 29 Referred Case 30 Referred Case 31 Referred Case 32 Referred Case 33
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Dismissed
Headnote	Gujarat Riots – Godhra incident of 27.2.2002, in which large number of Kar-sevaks, returning from Ayodhya, were burnt alive in train bogies – As aftermath of that incident, there was unrest and violence all across the State of Gujarat – A violent mob attacked the inhabitants of one Gulberg Society, killing 69 persons including the husband of appellant – Complaint dated 8.6.2006 of appellant to Director General of Police, Gujarat and other high officials inter alia containing allegations of “larger conspiracy at the highest level” which resulted into causing mass violence across the State during the relevant period – Such allegations founded on the alleged utterances made by the then Chief Minister while addressing the DGP, the then Chief Secretary and other senior officials of the State – Towards this, reference made to meeting held on 27.2.2002 evening in Gandhinagar, as testified in the affidavit of Mr. R.B. Sreekumar, the then Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) – Reliance placed on report of a private panel of former Judges of Supreme Court titled “Concerned Citizens Tribunal” which referred to testimony before them of late Mr. Haren Pandya, former Minister – Additionally, reliance placed on testimony of Mr. Sanjiv Bhatt, the then Superintendent of Police (Security), who claimed to have attended the meeting convened by the then Chief Minister on 27.2.2002 – Held: The testimony of Mr. Sanjiv Bhatt, Mr. Haren Pandya and also of Mr. R.B. Sreekumar was only to sensationalize and politicize the matters in issue, although, replete with falsehood – There was a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officials of the State of Gujarat alongwith others to create sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledge – The falsity of their claims had been fully exposed by the SIT (appointed by Supreme Court) after a thorough investigation – To make out a case of larger criminal conspiracy, it is essential to establish a link indicative of meeting of minds of the concerned persons for commission of the crime(s), committed during the relevant period across the State – No such link is forthcoming, much less had been unraveled and established in any of the nine cases investigated by the same SIT under the directions of Supreme Court – In light of the timely corrective measures taken by the State Government in right earnest and repeated public assurances given by the then Chief Minister that guilty will be punished for their crime(s), and to maintain peace, it would be beyond comprehension of any person of ordinary prudence to bear suspicion about the meeting of minds of named offenders and hatching of conspiracy by the State at the highest level, as alleged, much less grave or strong suspicion as being the quintessence for sending the accused for trial for an offence of criminal conspiracy – Breakdown of law-and-order situation if for short duration, cannot partake the colour of breakdown of rule of law or constitutional crisis – No fault found with the approach of the SIT in submitting final report for discarding the allegations regarding larger criminal conspiracy (at the highest level) for causing and precipitating mass violence across the State during the relevant period – Decision of the Magistrate in accepting the final report submitted by the SIT, is upheld as it is and the protest petition filed by the appellant is rejected – Submission of appellant regarding infraction of rule of law in the matter of investigation and the approach of the Magistrate and the High Court in dealing with the final report, cannot be countenanced – Penal Code, 1860 – s.302 r/w s.120B, s.193 r/w s.114 and ss.185, 153A, 186 and 187 – Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 – s.6 – Gujarat Police Act, 1951 – Human Rights Act, 1991. Constitution of India, 1950 – Art. 356 – Failure of Constitutional machinery – Breakdown of law and order – When made out – Held: Mis-governance or failure to maintain law-and order during a brief period may not be a case of failure of constitutional machinery in the context of tenets embodied in Art.356 – There must be credible evidence regarding State sponsored breakdown of law-and-order situation; not spontaneous or isolated instances or events of failure of State administration to control the situation. Gujarat Riots – Allegations of criminal conspiracy on the part of the State authorities – Forwarding of messages by the intelligence agencies including inaction or lack of effective measures taken by the concerned officials – Effect of – Held: It does not per se imply criminal conspiracy on the part of the State authorities – Inaction of the duty holders to take those messages (of intelligence agencies) to its logical end, cannot be regarded as act of criminal conspiracy unless there is material to provide link regarding the meeting of minds and deliberate act to effectuate a plan to spread mass violence across the State. Gujarat Riots – Allegations of criminal conspiracy on the part of the State authorities – Inaction or failure of some officials of one section of the State administration – Held: Cannot be the basis to infer a pre-planned criminal conspiracy by the authorities of the State Government or to term it as a State sponsored crime (violence).
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.M. Khanwilkar Hon'ble Mr. Justice C.T. Ravikumar Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dinesh Maheshwari
Neutral Citation	2022 INSC 653
Petitioner	Zakia Ahsan Jafri
Respondent	State Of Gujarat & Anr.
SCR	[2022] 6 S.C.R. 1
Judgement Date	2022-06-24
Case Number	912

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Zakia Ahsan Jafri Vs. State of Gujarat & Anr.

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