A special court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday convicted 32 persons, including a former minister in the Narendra Modi government, Maya Kodnani, for murder, in connection with the 2002 Naroda Patiya case, in which 97 people were killed during the 2002 anti-minority riots in Gujarat.
Principal Sessions Judge Jyotsna Yagnik, also acquitted 29 others, giving them the benefit of doubt. After reading out the verdict in open court, the Judge scheduled the pronouncement for the quantum of punishment to those convicted for August 31.
Among those found guilty also include a three-time sitting MLA from Naroda, ex-VHP leader Babu Bajrangi, local BJP leaders Bipin Panchal, Kishan Korani and Ashok Sindhi. This is the first instance where a sitting MLA has been pronounced guilty in a 2002 riot case. Kodnani was a minister of state for women and child development from 2007 to 2009.
State govt distances from the convicted ex-minister
The Gujarat government tried to distance itself from sitting MLA Maya Kodnani, found guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy by a trial court on Wednesday.
State government spokes-person Jaynarayan Vyas told mediapersons after the verdict was pronounced, “Court verdict is not for comment or celebration. We are yet to see the fine print of the judgment. Once we get that, and after taking appropriate legal advise, we will think about a further course of action.”
Vyas said, “An MLA is not a state government functionary. Moreover, Kodnani was not a minister when the incident took place. She was an MLA from the area where the incident took place.”
Vyas said Kodnani’s involvement in a riot case while being an MLA does not mean the government was also involved. He said it was ploy of the Congress to malign the BJP government by linking Kodnani’s involvement in the riots and the government. Claiming that Gujarat is not the first state where a sitting MLA was convicted by court, Vyas said “that there were convicts who have been made minister at the Centre”. BS REPORTER
All the 32 convicted had been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 302 (murder), 307 (attempted murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 323, 324, 325 (causing grievous hurt with deadly weapons), rioting, unlawful assembly and various other sections.
The incident had taken place on February 28, 2002, a day after the Godhra train burning incident. On that day, when a bandh call was given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a large crowd gathered in Naroda Patiya area and attacked the people of the minority community, killing 97 persons and injuring 33 others. Those killed included 36 women, 35 children and 26 men.
This is one of the cases which was re-investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT). The SIT was also entrusted with further investigation into seven other 2002 riot cases and the Godhra train burning case.
The Apex Court in 2008 had ordered re-investigation in nine of the most sensitive cases of the 2002 riots in Gujarat, based on bunch of petitions filed by victims and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Public prosecutor in the case, Akhil Desai, said, “We have contended the case falls under the rarest of the rare, and all the 32 convicts deserve maximum punishment.”
Gaurang Vyas, assistant public prosecutor, said the argument for the quantum of punishment by the prosecutor as well as the defence was over and now the pronouncement will be done on August 31.
As many as 327 witnesses, including, eyewitnesses, victims, doctors, police personnel, government officials and forensic experts and journalists like Ashish Khetan, who conducted a TV sting operation on the accused, were examined.
This is the sixth case investigated by the SIT in which the judgment was pronounced. As many as 116 persons have been convicted in five SIT probed cases with punishment ranging from death penalty to seven years imprisonment.
More than 1,200 persons mostly from the minority community were killed during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat following the Godhra train burning incident on February 27, 2002.
