Narendra Modi, Chief Justice attend law convocation together - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Gujarat Chief Minster Narendra Modi and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) KG Balakrishnan attended a convocation ceremony of the Gujarat National Law University here today. Earlier, families of victims of Godhra riots had written an open letter addressed to Balakrishnan and the Zimbabwean Embassy asking them not to share the dais with the Modi at the first convocation ceremony. The letter says, "An association of the Chief Justice of India with a person who is being examined for his role in the killing of innocent people under the directives of the Supreme Court, will send out wrong signals and undermine the process of justice in Gujarat." On Saturday, Modi, was questioned by the Supreme Court appointed SIT, that is investigating into the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, for almost 10 hours. Zakia Jaffrey, the petitioner and widow of Ehsan Jaffrey, former Congress MP who was allegedly burnt alive during the 2002 communal riots had filed the petition and alleged that Modi and his administration had aided and abetted the rioters in the incident that has come to be known as the Gulbarg Society massacre on February 28, 2002 where over 60 people, including her husband, were burnt to death in 2002. In the case filed in the Supreme Court, Zakiya stated that Modi and 62 others had conspired during the riots, and that senior ministers had ordered bureaucrats and policemen not to respond to calls for help. Over a thousand people died in the Gujarat communal riots. The Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to the Nanavati Commission asking it to explain, by April 1, whether it too would summon Narendra Modi as part of its inquiry into the 2002 riots.