Former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani has been acquitted in Naroda Gam case

Ahmedabad:

Former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani and the Bajrang Dal’s Babu Bajrangi are among over 60 accused who have been acquitted in the Naroda Gam case during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

A special court in Ahmedabad gave its judgment today in the communal riots case in which 11 Muslims were killed when their homes were set on fire in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Gam.

Home Minister Amit Shah appeared in court as a defence witness for Ms Kodnani in 2017. She was a minister in the Gujarat government headed by the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2002, when the riots broke out following the burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express in Gujarat’s Godhra.

“All the accused have been acquitted. We are waiting for a copy of the judgement,” the lawyer of those who have been acquitted told reporters outside the special court of SK Baxi today.

Ms Kodnani was also convicted in the Naroda Patiya riots case in which 97 people were massacred and was sentenced to 28 years. She was later discharged by the Gujarat High Court.

The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by a special team appointed by the Supreme Court and heard by special courts.

Over 80 people were named as accused in the Naroda Gam case; 18 died during trial.

The acquittal comes as a setback for the families of those who died in the Naroda Gam massacre.

The latest acquittal is likely to raise a big political storm, especially after 11 men convicted in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case were given remission just before the Gujarat election last year in November. Seven members of her family, including her three-year-old daughter, were also murdered in the 2002 Gujarat riots.