Nobody above law, I have answered critics: Modi

28 Mar 2010,

NEW DELHI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appeared before Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the 2002 communal riots in the state. The deposition was a marathon session, with the first leg stretching over five hours and the second part resuming later in the evening after a three-hour break.

Mr Modi had been summoned to depose in connection with a complaint filed by Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Eshan Jaffery who was killed in the riot at Gulburg Society in Ahmedabad along with 69 others.

On emerging from the first session with the SIT on Saturday, Mr Modi sought to silence his detractors by declaring that he would fully cooperate with the SIT and would be back for a second session later in the evening. “The questioning is not yet complete although I told them to ask me everything today itself,” he told reporters waiting outside the SIT office.

Stating that no one was above the law, Mr Modi reminded his critics: “I have said earlier that the Constitution and law of the land are supreme and, as a citizen and chief minister, I am bound by the Constitution and law of the land.”

“If people have doubts I would like to clarify that the SIT that has been appointed by the Supreme court has done the questioning. There is no (police) officer of Gujarat in SIT. It is working on directions of Supreme Court,” he said.

“I have said that nobody is above law....today my actions and gesture have answered my critics,” he said. A miscommunication posting March 21 as the date set by SIT for Modi’s “appearance” had led the media to criticise the Gujarat chief minister after he failed to come to the SIT office on the said date. However, it later became clear that the SIT had only asked him to appear before March 27, the date when its notice would expire.

Making sure that he appeared before the SIT within the notice period, Mr Modi drove to the SIT office at the Old Secretariat building in Gandhinagar around noon on Saturday. Clad in a crisp kurta-pyjama, Mr Modi waved to the crowd of waiting mediapersons who had gathered outside the SIT office.

SIT chief R K Raghavan was not present in the office at the time of Mr Modi’s deposition. His second in command, Mr A K Malhotra, is believed to have questioned the chief minister. Mr Modi was not accompanied by his lawyers or aides during the questioning.

Though details of queries put to Mr Modi were not available, the SIT would essentially be looking for answers to the allegations made by Zakia Jaffery. Mr Modi has been named as one of the 63 accused in the petition filed by her. Zakia has alleged that Modi and 62 others conspired during the riots, and that senior ministers ordered bureaucrats and policemen not to respond to calls for help by the riot victims. She has also accused the chief minister of instructing his police officers to go slow againt the rioters at a meeting called by him on February 27, 2002. Speaking to mediapersons even as Mr Modi was being questioned by the SIT, Zakia Jaffery, the murdered MP’s wife said she expected Mr Modi to “speak the truth about the riots.” ET Bureau