Court acquits all 69 accused along with Maya Kodnani in Naroda Gam massacre in Gujarat

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: A Special SIT courtroom on Thursday acquitted the entire accused throughout the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case. The riots broke out on February 28, 2002, all through a bandh often known as to protest the burning of the Godhra follow a day sooner than. The follow blaze killed 58 passengers travelling in Sabarmati Express Train Coach S-6. They had been largely kar sevaks getting back from Ayodhya. 

In the communal violence that adopted, 11 Muslims had been killed. The verdict comes following a 13-year trial.

The 69 suspects acquitted embrace former minister Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi, and Jaideep Patel. Supporters had been heard chanting “Jai Shri Ram” exterior the courtroom. after the choice.

On August 26, 2008, the Supreme Court appointed a Special Inquiry Team (SIT) to conduct the investigation. 

Maya Kodnani, a former minister from Gujarat and a BJP chief, and Babu Bajrangi, a frontrunner of the Bajrang Dal, had been two of the 86 defendants implicated throughout the case. Eighteen of the 86 accused have died in the midst of the trial. 

The trial began in 2010 and lasted practically 13 years. Six judges carried out the trial. The prosecution and safety cross-examined 187 and 57 witnesses, respectively.

On September 23, 2013, the testimony of Investigating Officer Praveen Mal began, with a two-year cross-examination. The concluding arguments had been heard throughout the courtroom of Special Judge PB Desai, who retired on the time. 

Soon after, arguments had been resumed sooner than Judge MK Dave, who was moreover transferred as Principal District Judge three years previously. Arguments then started sooner than Subhda Bakshi, a selected courtroom select throughout the riot case, following his swap. The arguments had been concluded on April 5, 2023.

Amit Shah, who’s presently the Union dwelling minister, testified in Maya Kodnani’s defence in September 2017.

During his deposition, Shah suggested the courtroom that he met Kodnani throughout the state assembly in Gandhinagar spherical 8.30 am and subsequently on the Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad spherical 11 am to 11.30 am on February 28, 2002, the day when the carnage happened in Naroda. In the chargesheet, the SIT, nonetheless, alleged that Kodnani left the assembly at 8.40 am and reached Naroda Gam at spherical 9.30 am. The investigation employees moreover claimed that indicators from Kodnani’s mobile phone suggested that she was on the spot till 10.30 am. Both Shah and Kodnani had been MLAs throughout the Narendra Modi-led state authorities in 2002. Kodnani had requested the courtroom to call Shah with a view to arrange her alibi, in line with which she was present on the Gujarat Assembly after which on the Sola Civil Hospital fairly than at Naroda Gam, the scene of the slaughter.

The video of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan and the choice logs of Kodnani, Bajrangi, and others all through the associated interval had been part of the prosecution’s proof.

The defendants confronted bills beneath sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to kill), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with lethal weapons), 120 (B) (felony conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), amongst others. The highest penalty for these offences is demise. 

Kodnani, a minister in Gujarat’s Narendra Modi authorities, was convicted and sentenced to twenty-eight years in jail throughout the Naroda Patiya riot case, throughout which 97 people had been slaughtered. The Gujarat High Court later launched her.

She had been charged with felony conspiracy together with rioting, murder, and tried murder on this case.

AHMEDABAD: A Special SIT courtroom on Thursday acquitted the entire accused throughout the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case. The riots broke out on February 28, 2002, all through a bandh often known as to protest the burning of the Godhra follow a day sooner than. The follow blaze killed 58 passengers travelling in Sabarmati Express Train Coach S-6. They had been largely kar sevaks getting back from Ayodhya. 

In the communal violence that adopted, 11 Muslims had been killed. The verdict comes following a 13-year trial.

The 69 suspects acquitted embrace former minister Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi, and Jaideep Patel. Supporters had been heard chanting “Jai Shri Ram” exterior the courtroom. after the choice.googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.present(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

On August 26, 2008, the Supreme Court appointed a Special Inquiry Team (SIT) to conduct the investigation. 

Maya Kodnani, a former minister from Gujarat and a BJP chief, and Babu Bajrangi, a frontrunner of the Bajrang Dal, had been two of the 86 defendants implicated throughout the case. Eighteen of the 86 accused have died in the midst of the trial. 

The trial began in 2010 and lasted practically 13 years. Six judges carried out the trial. The prosecution and safety cross-examined 187 and 57 witnesses, respectively.

On September 23, 2013, the testimony of Investigating Officer Praveen Mal began, with a two-year cross-examination. The concluding arguments had been heard throughout the courtroom of Special Judge PB Desai, who retired on the time. 

Soon after, arguments had been resumed sooner than Judge MK Dave, who was moreover transferred as Principal District Judge three years previously. Arguments then started sooner than Subhda Bakshi, a selected courtroom select throughout the riot case, following his swap. The arguments had been concluded on April 5, 2023.

Amit Shah, who’s presently the Union dwelling minister, testified in Maya Kodnani’s defence in September 2017.

During his deposition, Shah suggested the courtroom that he met Kodnani throughout the state assembly in Gandhinagar spherical 8.30 am and subsequently on the Sola Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad spherical 11 am to 11.30 am on February 28, 2002, the day when the carnage happened in Naroda. In the chargesheet, the SIT, nonetheless, alleged that Kodnani left the assembly at 8.40 am and reached Naroda Gam at spherical 9.30 am. The investigation employees moreover claimed that indicators from Kodnani’s mobile phone suggested that she was on the spot till 10.30 am. Both Shah and Kodnani had been MLAs throughout the Narendra Modi-led state authorities in 2002. Kodnani had requested the courtroom to call Shah with a view to arrange her alibi, in line with which she was present on the Gujarat Assembly after which on the Sola Civil Hospital fairly than at Naroda Gam, the scene of the slaughter.

The video of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan and the choice logs of Kodnani, Bajrangi, and others all through the associated interval had been part of the prosecution’s proof.

The defendants confronted bills beneath sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to kill), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with lethal weapons), 120 (B) (felony conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), amongst others. The highest penalty for these offences is demise. 

Kodnani, a minister in Gujarat’s Narendra Modi authorities, was convicted and sentenced to twenty-eight years in jail throughout the Naroda Patiya riot case, throughout which 97 people had been slaughtered. The Gujarat High Court later launched her.

She had been charged with felony conspiracy together with rioting, murder, and tried murder on this case.