Zakia Jafri, Gujarat Riots Survivor Who Took Modi to Court, Dies at 86
The woman who challenged Narendra Modi, Zakia Jafri died on Saturday afternoon. Zakia Jafri was a widow of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri and a survivor of the Gulbarg Society massacre that followed the February 27th 2002, Godhra train burning tragedy.
“Till I have breath left in me, I am going to keep fighting,” Zakia said two years ago in an interview. She was among the 69 people burnt to death inside the gated Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
On the anniversaries of the slaughter until 2023, Zakia would frequently visit the remains of her house in Gulberg Society. She had been the face of the fight for justice for the victims of the post Godhra riots since 2006 when she began a protracted legal battle against the Gujarat government.
The Supreme Court rejected her appeal in 2022 arguing that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had granted former chief minister of Gujarat and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a number of other people a clean sheet in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
In her plea, Zakia Jafri said the SIT had conducted a partial and biased probe into the allegations of a bigger conspiracy and had disregarded important evidence in the case.
On February 28th 2002, Ahsan Jafri was one of 68 people who died within the gated Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad’s Chamanpura neighbourhood. Zakia filed a complaint in 2006 claiming that Modi and other prominent politicians had not been charged by the police with any involvement in the violence.
In response to her demand for justice, the Supreme Court ordered a re-examination of the nine major riot cases including the Gulberg Society case by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which ultimately submitted a closing report in 2012.
During the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in a television interview, Zakia Jafri had asked, “Are you going to make Narendra Modi PM again?”
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