Judge to visit Gulberg society riot site Oct 2

AHMEDABAD - The judge of a designated court here hearing the 2002 Gulberg society communal riot, in which 69 people including former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri were killed in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city, will inspect the carnage site Oct 2.

Judge B.U. Joshi said Monday that though statements of witnesses had been recorded earlier no site inspection had been done so far.

The judge said he accompanied by lawyers of the various parties to the case will visit the Gulberg society to ascertain facts.

Earlier Aug 1, the Gujarat High Court rejected a petition filed by some victims and witnesses of the Gulberg Society communal massacre, for transferring the trial from the designated court on the grounds of “bias” of the judge against them.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Abhilasha Kumari rejected the petition, stating that “alleged apprehension of bias for seeking transfer cannot be termed as a reasonable apprehension to attract the power of transfer of the cases.”

Petitioners Imtiyazkhan Pathan and others had alleged that Judge Joshi was “biased and adopted an unsympathetic behaviour” towards the witnesses, and feared “injustice” from his court.

Joshi was selected by the high court to conduct the trial of the Gulberg society massacre. The petitioners had moved the high court after the Ahmedabad sessions court turned their plea down.