Description
The Ahmedabad court is expected to deliver its verdict in the case of the 2002 Naroda Gam riots. (Representative) A special court in Ahmedabad is expected to hand down a ruling on Thursday in the case of the 2002 Naroda Gam communal riots that killed eleven members of the Muslim community. Maya Kodnani, a former minister of Gujarat and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Babu Bajrangi, leader of the Bajrang Dal, are among the 86 defendants on trial in this case. Of 86 defendants, 18 died in the meantime.
The SK Baxi court, a special judge for Special Investigation Agency (SIT) cases, is due to deliver the verdict against 68 defendants on April 20.
Eleven people were killed in communal violence in the Naroda Gam district of Ahmedabad city on February 28, 2002, during a 'bandh' held in protest of the Godhra train burning the previous day during which 58 passengers, in their Most of the Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya were killed.
The prosecution and defense heard from 187 and 57 witnesses respectively during the trial which began in 2010 and continued for nearly 13 years with six judges presiding over the case in succession, special prosecutor Suresh Shah said.
In September 2017, the top leader of the BJP (now Union Home Minister) Amit Shah appeared as a witness for Maya Kodnani's defense.
Kodnani had asked the court to summon him to prove his alibi that she was present at the Gujarat Assembly and then at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at Naroda Gam where the massacre took place.
Among the evidence presented by the prosecution is a video of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan, as well as the contact details of Kodnani, Bajrangi and others during the period in question.
When the trial began, SH Vora was the presiding judge. He was brought up in the Gujarat High Court. His successors, Jyotsna Yagnik, KK Bhatt and PB Desai, withdrew during the trial.
Special judge MK Dave, who came later, was transferred, prosecutor Shah said.
"The trial (witness testimony) ended about four years ago. The prosecution's case ended and the defense was presenting their case when the then special judge, PB Desai, withdrew. So the arguments started again before the judge. Dave and then before Judge Baxi, which delayed the trial proceedings,” he said.
The defendants face charges under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempted murder) of the Indian Penal Code, 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (riots), 148 (armed riots with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (association of delinquents), and 153 (incitement to riots), among others. The maximum penalty for these crimes is death.
Kodnani, who was a minister in the Gujarat government, was found guilty and sentenced to 28 years in prison in the case of the Naroda Patiya riots, where 97 people were massacred. She was later released by the Gujarat High Court.
In this case, she was accused of criminal association in addition to riot, homicide and attempted homicide.
The Naroda Gam massacre was one of nine major cases of communal riots in 2002 that the SIT investigated and heard in special courts.
