With the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi being dragged again into the Gujarat riots investigation, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) told the Supreme Court that the issue should not be revisited, that too on a petition filed by social activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad. The bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Deepak Gupta, which postponed the hearing on the case to November 26, asked main petitioner Zakia Ahsan Jafri why she needed the assistance of Setalvad to argue the matter. Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed in the Gulbarga Society massacre case during the 2002 riots in Gujarat. She challenged the Gujarat High Court's October 5, 2017 order, rejecting her plea against the SIT's decision. The SIT represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that the main petition is by Jafri while an application has been moved to make Setalvad a co-petitioner. "As far as petitioner number one -- Zakia Jafri -- is concerned, she was a complainant in the case and she approaching the Supreme Court is understandable. The objection is with respect to petitioner number two -- Teesta Setalvad. She claims to be a journalist but she was no where either in the trial court or the high court. How can she jump in like this?" Rohatgi said. He said that the appeal does not have a single supporting affidavit filed by Jafri and all the affidavits filed are by Setalvad, who describes herself as a journalist. "The trial court had given its finding in the matter. The high court also passed its order on the plea and gave a concurrent finding. The issue is of 2002. This can't go on and on, endlessly. Somewhere it has to stop and the petition must be dismissed," Rohatgi said. On February 8, 2012, the SIT filed a closure report on her complaint against Modi and 57 others. Jafri who was aggrieved by the order giving clean chit argued through her lawyer senior advocate CU Singh that the matter needed detailed hearing. LEGAL ROUTE The SIT represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that the main petition is by Jafri while an application has been moved to make Setalvad a co-petitioner. On February 8, 2012, the SIT filed a closure report on her complaint against Modi and 57 others.

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