Some retired Civil Servants issued a statement urging the Supreme Court to withdraw a paragraph by the Gujarat Police cited to arrest social activist Teesta Setalvad and former IPS Officer RB Sreekumar. They also requested the SC to review its Zakia Jafri verdict.

Earlier, the SC dismissed the plea by Zakia that challenged the clean chit decision of the investigation team to then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi over the Godhra 2002 riots. The SC marked that those who kept the pot boiling should put them in the dock.

The 92 Constitutional Conduct Group signatories questioned the Supreme Court’s decision to proceed with the appellant for being persistent in their plea. They also asked the SC to order the unconditional release of Setalvaad.

Advocate Raju Ramchandran asked, “What about the NHRC reports that stated that the investigation objective was to find out the role of PM Modi in the 2002 riots?”

He added, “These significant considerations scrutinised the SIT’s point of view. Thus, they would provide a petition challenging its conclusions enough weight. Moreover, the earlier observations by the SC mention the laxity of the state government authorities.”

In 2004, the Supreme Court charged the Gujarat leader for acting like a modern-day Nero.

Former Union home secretary G.K. Pillai, former Union finance secretary Sunil Mitra, former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, various former chief secretaries, and retired state police chiefs signed the statement.

Para 88 of the verdict says, “At the end of the day, it appears to us that a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officials of the State of Gujarat along with others was to create a sensation by making revelations which were false to their knowledge. All those involved in such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded with following law.”

The crime branch, Ahmedabad, mentioned this in its FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt.

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