Naroda Gam: Survivors Call Thursday A 'Black Day' As Court Acquits 68 Accused

After a special court in Gujarat acquitted all 68 accused of the Naroda Gam case, witnesses who deposed in the trial described Thursday as a “black day” for the victims, terming it to be “devoid of conscience”.

Riots broke out in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, during a bandh called to protest the torching of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express by a mob near Godhra station a day earlier. As many as 58 train passengers, mostly karsevaks returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, were charred to death.

11 Muslim community members were killed in the post-Godhra riots in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam.

What did the witnesses say?

As per media reports, Imtiyaz Ahmed Hussein Kureshi, who was a prosecution witness, “I had identified 17 of the accused, including Jaideep Patel (former VHP leader), Pradyuman Patel, then sitting corporators Vallabh Patel and Ashok Patel. I had seen them instigating the mob and signalling them to burn down masjid, to attack particular places. I saw them burning families to death – five were burnt to death right in front of my eyes – and I identified them. I also remembered the colour of the clothes the accused were wearing. I gave all evidence.”

“They should have been punished with a life term. Instead, this acquittal makes us lose our faith in the judiciary. It is a black day for us victims. Those who died, did they die by suicide then? Did they burn themselves to death?”

Another witness in the case, Sharif Malek (42) who had identified and testified against 13 of the accused in the court, including Maya Kodnani and Jaideep Patel, said, “This verdict indicates that those participating in state-sponsored violence against minorities will go scot-free. It is an indirect message to people at large. It diminishes our faith in the judiciary and in fact raises questions on the judiciary’s impropriety.”

“While disappointing, we will not be discouraged. We will fight for the next 21 years and 50 days in appeal if need be,” Malek added.

Court acquitted  all 68 accused 21 

More than two decades after 11 Muslim community members were killed in the post-Godhra riots in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam, a special court on Thursday acquitted all the 68 accused in the case, including former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

While a lawyer of the victims' families said the judgement will be challenged before the Gujarat High Court because "justice was denied" to them, accused and their relatives termed the verdict, which came more than  21 years after the incident, as a "victory of truth".

The Ahmedabad-based court of S K Baxi, special judge for Special Investigation Team (SIT) cases, acquitted all the 68 accused in one of the worst massacres witnessed during the state-wide riots triggered by the Sabarmati train carnage on February 27, 2002, after a trial spanning 13 years and half a dozen judges. The Naroda Gam case was probed by a Supreme Court-appointed SIT.

A detailed judgement is expected to be made available in the coming days.

Those acquitted include former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister in the Gujarat government Kodnani (67), former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

There were a total of 86 accused in the case, of which 18 died during the pendency of the trial, while one was discharged by the court earlier under section 169 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) due to insufficient evidence against him. The section relates to release of accused when evidence is deficient.

All the 68 accused who were let off were already out on bail.

Advocate Chetan Shah, who represented 82 out of the 86 accused, said he made sure "innocents" were acquitted for which he presented written arguments in the court running into 7,719 pages.

Advocate Shahshad Pathan, who represented the victims' families, said the acquittal order will be challenged in the High Court.

"We will study the grounds on which the special court decided to acquit all the accused and challenge the order in the High Court. It appears the victims have been denied justice. The question remains as to who burnt 11 persons to death in the presence of policemen?" Pathan told reporters.

The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots), among others.

Then-BJP president Amit Shah, now Union Home Minister, had in September 2017 appeared in the trial court as a defence witness for Kodnani. Former BJP minister Kodnani had requested the court to summon Shah to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at Ahmedabad's Sola Civil Hospital, and not at Naroda Gam, where the massacre took place.

Six different judges have presided over the case. When the trial started in 2010, S H Vora was the presiding judge. He was later elevated to the Gujarat High Court. Special judges who subsequently handled the case included Jyotsna Yagnik, KK Bhatt and PB Desai, all of whom retired during the pendency of the trial.

Special judge MK Dave came next, but was transferred before the conclusion of the trial, advocate Chetan Shah said.

The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SC-appointed SIT and heard by special courts.

(With PTI Inputs)