Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 20: A special court in Ahmedabad has acquitted all 69 accused, including the former BJP minister Maya Kodnani, the former Gujarat Bajrang Dal chief Babu Bajrangi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel, in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case in which 11 Muslims were killed on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
The verdict by special judge Shubhada Baxi was pronounced on Thursday evening around 5.30 pm and welcomed outside the court by chants of “Jai Shree Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” by the relatives of the accused.
Home Minister Amit Shah had appeared in court as a defence witness for Ms Kodnani in 2017 in connection with the case. At the time of the incident on February 28, 2002, a day after the Sabarmati Express carnage that sparked off the Gujarat riots, Kodnani was Women and Child Development Minister in the Cabinet headed by the then chief minister Narendra Modi.
“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. Both Ms Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi were convicted by the trial court in the Naroda Patiya riots case in which 97 people were massacred and was sentenced to 28 years in jail. While she was serving the sentence, the Gujarat High Court had overturned Kodnani’s conviction, acquitting her, but had upheld Bajrangi’s conviction in the Naroda Patiya case in 2018.
The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Supreme Court and which functioned under the supervision of the apex court. The team was headed by a former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Over 80 people were named as accused in the Naroda Gam case of whom 18 died during trial while all the remaining 69 accused were currently out on bail.
In 2020, M.K. Dave, a special judge hearing the case of the Naroda Gam massacre, part of the 2002 riots, was transferred by the Gujarat High Court in a shuffle of district judicial officers. The specially designated court, constituted for speedy trial of the 2002 Gujarat riot cases, had concluded the proceedings on April 5 but the verdict kept reserved. Nearly 182 prosecution witnesses were examined in the case.
The report of the Justice Nanavati Commission that investigated the Gujarat riots, noted the statements of witnesses that “there was no police help received by the Muslims and they were simply at the mercy of the miscreants”, and that police help arrived only in the evening. However, several police officials deposed before the Commission that they were not able to reach Naroda Gam because they were managing the more serious situation at Naroda Patiya, which was unfolding at the same time.
The latest acquittal is likely to raise some political storm as it came when the Supreme Court is seized with the review of release of earlier than schedule of 11 men convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape and mass murder case. They were given remission just before the Gujarat election last year in November and released from jails on August 15.
