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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed its displeasure over behind-the-scene activities which had largely affected proceedings in the post-Godhra riots cases. Painfully,I say we are deviating from the real issues, a three-judge special Bench led by Justice D K Jain said.
The Bench,also comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam,aired its anxiety after the court,during hearings over the past two months,witnessed trading of allegations between key players in the exercise,including activists and the Gujarat government on the reconstitution of the apex court-appointed Special Investigation Team SIT.
On Wednesday,the court retorted to Raghavans request,saying: We did not pass the order on the request of SIT chief,have we? What is the relevance of raising the issue of SIT chairman seeking retaining of its two members?
The court highlighted another instance of behind-the-scene occurrence of how Special Public Prosecutor in the Gulberg Society massacre,R K Shah,has been openly criticising the trial judge for his taunts and the SIT for its functioning.
Shah and his assistant Nayana Bhatt had tendered their resignation to SIT in early March. It was Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium who first brought the contents of Shahs letter dated February 26,2010 to the courts notice in a hearing on April 6.
The court had then asked the S-G how he came into possession of a letter written by Shah to the SIT chief.
Meanwhile,amicus curiae Harish Salve agreed to meet Raghavan on the point of the reconstitution of the SIT and report back to the court by May 6. The court further granted SIT time till May 15 to file its report on Zakia Jafris allegations in the Gulberg Society massacre case.
