Zakia Jafri, the relentless fighter for justice for the victims of the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, passed away at Ahmedabad on February 1, 2025. Zakia Jafri had filed cases seeking probe into the larger conspiracy behind the Gujarat riots. She was the widow of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed along with 68 others in the attack by Hindutva mobs on the Gulberg housing society during the 2002 riots.
Zakia Jafri mounted an intense legal battle on this and other related incidents demanding investigation against the top political functionaries of the State including then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. She specifically called into question the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team ( SIT) to 63 persons who were in the list of accused , including the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. She pursued this case relentlessly at various levels of judiciary starting with lower courts and later in the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court too, dismissed Jafri’s petition, in June 2022 and accepted the SIT’s clean chit to the high state functionaries. The Supreme Court also made certain controversial remarks against Jafri’s co-petitioner and social activist Teesta Setalvad, pursuant to which Setalvad was arrested by the Gujarat Police in a freshly registered case alleging fabrication of evidence. Setalvad was later granted bail by the Supreme Court.
Referring to the death of Zakia Jafri, Setalvad wrote in ‘X’: “Zakia Appa, a compassionate leader of the human rights community, passed away just 30 minutes ago! Her visionary presence will be missed by the nation, family, friends and the world! Tanveernhai, Nishrin, Duraiyaappa, grandkids we are with you! May she rest in peace and power.”
Father Cedric Prakash of the’ Society of Jesus’ stated that “ in the death of ZAKIABEN JAFRI, we the people of India have lost a great soul! “She was a woman of strength and substance. She suffered much since that fateful day of 28 February 2002 when her dear husband Ehsan Jafri (a former Member of Parliament) was brutally murdered.Since then, as a victim- survivor she has fought relentlessly for justice not merely for herself but all women and others – who are victims of an unjust and violent system. Zakiaben truly epitomized the very best of Indian womanhood. May she rest in peace and power.
Writer Aftab Ahmad said as follows on Facebook.
Zakia Jafri (1939-2025): Relentless Fighter for Justice
“Zakia Jafri, who breathed her last in Ahmedabad. At 86, she leaves behind a legacy etched in courage, resilience, and an unyielding quest for justice. She was not just a widow seeking justice; she was a symbol of defiance against a system that failed its people.
For over two decades, she fought an uphill battle, demanding justice for the brutal murder of her husband, former MP Ehsan Jafri, and the countless others who perished in the 2002 Gujarat riots. But in a system designed to shield the perpetrators, her pleas fell on deaf ears. Courtrooms became battlegrounds where truth was suffocated under the weight of power and impunity. The very institutions meant to uphold justice instead stood as fortresses protecting the guilty.
Yet, Zakia Jafri never surrendered. She carried her grief with grace, her struggle with dignity, and her truth with unwavering determination. Her fight exposed the rot within the system, laying bare the complicity that allowed criminals to walk free.
She may not have seen justice delivered, but she ensured that history would remember the betrayal. Her courage forced the nation to confront uncomfortable truths – truths that those in power wanted buried.
As she departs, we are left with a solemn duty – to carry forward her fight, to refuse silence in the face of oppression, and to demand justice where it has been denied.”
