Indian court orders removal of Modi’s name from Gujrat riots case

British national Sameema held then CM Modi responsible for killing of her family members during anti-Muslim violence

A local court in India’s Gujrat state has ordered removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name from a lawsuit seeking damages for the murder of three British nationals during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat state at that time and the applicant pleaded that he was “constitutionally, statutorily and personally liable for being in complete command of the state machinery” on whose watch the Gujarat riots of 2002 raged for days, reported The Wire.

Modi is accused of turning a blind eye to the riots in which some 2,500 people, mostly Muslims were killed.

In his order, the judge provided a summary of the allegations against Modi in the civil suit.

“The allegations were “general” and “vague” and that there is not a single averment showing [the] presence of [Modi] at the scene of offence… or his direct or indirect involvement in the alleged act or any specific role from which reasonable ground for malice or intentional acts or omissions can be found, entitling the plaintiff to claim any legal right or relief against defendant No.1 [Narendra Modi] in his personal or official capacity in the suit.”

The case dates back to 2004 when British national Sameema Dawood and others had moved a special civil suit in the local civil court against Modi. The suit had also named then minister of state for home Gordhan Zadaphia and 12 others and had sought Indian Rs200 million as damages for the killing of members of her family in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Dawood’s relatives – Saeed Dawood, Shakeel Dawood and Mohammed Aswat – were killed by a mob on a National Highway-8 on February 28, 2002. They were returning to their village Lajpur at Navsari in south Gujarat after visiting Agra and Jaipur when they were attacked, according to the FIR that was registered then.