21:34

Expressing disappointment over the "clean chit" given to BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi by a court in the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, a US-based coalition of Indian Americans has said it stands with victims of the violence including Zakia Jaffri, the widow of a slain MP.

The Coalition Against Genocide (CAG) leaders have said brining to justice those responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots would have deterred people from the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

"As disappointing as the Metropolitan Court's judgement is, it was sadly to be expected in a state that routinely denies justice for victims of Modi's government and his supremacist movement," said Shaikh Ubaid, a founding member of CAG, which is a broader coalition of over 40 US-based Indian American organisations.

On December 26, a Metropolitan court in Ahmedabad rejected a protest petition filed by Zakia challenging the clean chit given to 63 persons, including Modi, by the Supreme Court -appointed Special Investigation Team in the riots. Zakia's husband Ehsan Jafri was among 68 people massacred during the Gulbarg society riots.