Zakia Jafri

Zakia Naseem Jafri (1938 or 1939 – 1 February 2025) was an Indian human rights activist known for her legal efforts related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. She became widely recognised as the widow of Ehsan Jafri, a Congress Member of Parliament who was killed during the riots.

Background Zakia Jafri was the widow of Ehsan Jafri, a lawyer from Burhanpur who was elected as a member of parliament in 1977. Born into a wealthy landlord family in Khandwa, Central Provinces and Berar, British India (present day Madhya Pradesh, India), in the late 1930s, she married Jafri when he was serving as an attorney.

In 1969, during communal riots in Khandwa, their home was attacked, forcing them to stay in a refugee camp for some time before relocating to Ahmedabad in 1971. She was interred in the same cemetery as her husband.

The 2002 Gujarat riots

Widespread riots occurred in Gujarat in 2002. The state government later stated 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed during the riots; independent sources put the death toll at over 2,000, the vast majority of them Muslims. The Gulbarg Society massacre occurred during the riots, on 28 February. A crowd began pelting stones at the Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in the eastern part of Chamanpura in Ahmedabad. Ehsan Jafri was among 35 victims burned alive, while 31 others went missing and were presumed dead. According to Zakia Jafri, she and a few others managed to survive by hiding in an upstairs room. The SIT concluded the investigation in 2012, finding that there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute Modi or other officials. Jafri filed a plea challenging the SIT's findings, which was dismissed by the Supreme Court in June 2022, upholding the closure report. As a result of her numerous legal filings, Jafri was seen as the "face of the fight for justice" for the victims of the 2002 riots, according to the Mint.