AHMEDABAD — Zakia Jafri, the widow of former parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri, who was killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, passed away on Saturday, February 1 in Ahmedabad following age-related issues. Zakia was 86. She was widely known for her relentless fight for justice in connection with the communal violence that led to her husband’s brutal killing.
Zakia, who was with her US-based daughter Nishrin in Ahmedabad, passed away around 11.30 am, confirmed her son Tanveer, who lives in Surat. She is likely to be laid to rest beside her husband in Ahmedabad. Nishrin was inconsolable, reported The Indian Express.
Till 2023, Zakia regularly visited the remains of her home in Gulberg Society on the anniversary of the massacre. Having fought a long-drawn legal battle against the Gujarat government since 2006, she had become the face of the fight for justice for the victims of the post-Godhra riots.
In 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed her plea challenging the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to then Gujarat chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Ahsan Jafri was among the 68 killed inside the gated Gulberg Society in the Chamanpura area of Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002. In 2006, Zakia submitted a complaint stating that the police had not registered a complaint against Modi and other top politicians in connection with the violence.
Her call for justice led the Supreme Court to order a re-investigation into the nine big riot cases including the Gulberg Society case by an SIT which eventually filed a closure report in 2012.
