Why an Indian widow is still fighting for justice for her husband who was killed by a mob in 2002

Zakia Jafri is challenging the closure of an investigation which cleared Narendra Modi of wrongdoing over the 2002 Gujarat riots, Sravasti Dasgupta reports

83-year-old Zakia Jafri (AFP via Getty Images)

Zakia Jafri’s life turned upside down on 28 February, 2002.

A Hindu mob dragged her 72-year-old husband and Congress Party politician, Ehsan Jafri, out of their plush bungalow in Gujarat’s Gulberg Society, then tortured and killed him in front of her eyes.

Jafri, 64 at the time, could do nothing to save her husband. The state was under lockdown following the massacre of 59 Hindu pilgrims on the Sabarmati Express the day before. The lockdown was called by the radical right-wing Hindu group the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).