<div>An Indian court upheld on Thursday the result of an investigation that cleared Gujarat state chief minister Narendra Modi of complicity in riots in 2002, giving the opposition politician a boost as he runs for prime minister.<br /><br />Modi, a leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has used the report to defend himself in the past, saying he was "given a thoroughly clean chit" and insisting he did all he could to stop the violence.<br /><br />The riots erupted in February 2002 after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was torched, prompting a wave of reprisal attacks against the state's minority Muslims. At least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, in some of India's worst religious bloodshed since 1947.<br /><br />A special team appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the role of Modi and 62 other people in the violence said in a 541-page report in 2012 it could find no evidence to prosecute the chief minister.<br /><br />Most importantly, it cleared Modi of the most damaging allegation: that he had told senior officials to allow Hindu mobs to vent their anger.<br /><br />Zakia Jafri, the widow of a politician belonging to the ruling Congress party who was killed by rioters along with dozens of neighbours, had filed a protest petition against the team's report in April.<br /><br />On Thursday, a court in Gujarat's main city of Ahmedabad rejected Jafri's petition, saying there was no evidence to prosecute Modi.<br /><br />"Truth alone triumphs," Modi wrote on his Twitter page.<br /><br />Jafri's lawyers and supporters said they would take the case to a higher court within a month.<br /><br />"Modi can feel easy for 20 days but not for more than that," said Mihir Desai, a lawyer for Jafri.<br /><br />Modi, who in the years following the riots turned Gujarat into one of India's fastest growing states, has built a reputation as a business-savvy and investor-friendly administrator. But he has been unable to fully shake off allegations over the riots.<br /><br />"I strongly feel for those who haven't got justice in Gujarat," Law Minister Kapil Sibal said soon after the court decision on Thursday.<br /><br />Modi looks to be the front-runner in an election that must be held by May. <br /><br /><br />(Reuters)</div>
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