A special court in Ahmedabad on Thursday acquitted all the 68 accused, including former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani and the Bajrang Dal's Babu Bajrangi, in the Naroda Gam case during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The case pertains to the death of 11 Muslims, who were killed after their homes were set on fire on February 28, 2002, in Ahmedabad's Naroda Gam during the ongoing Godhra riots.
On April 16, the court of principal sessions Judge SK Baxi fixed April 20 as the date for the verdict in the case and also directed the accused to remain present in the court. Notably, all the accused in the case were on bail.
The Naroda Gam case was among the nine major riots that broke out in Gujarat in 2002 after the burning of the Sabarmati Express. The Naroda Patiya case was the other attack wherein 97 Muslims were killed by a mob. In 2012, Kodnani and Bajrangi were convicted in the Naroda Patiya case and Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in jail, but she was acquitted by the Gujarat High Court in 2018.
In the trial that started in 2010 and went on for nearly 13 years, the prosecution and defence examined 187 and 57 witnesses, respectively, with six judges successively presiding over the case, said special prosecutor Suresh Shah.
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While it was the only case, related to the Gujarat riots, that was still pending this long, we look back at how the legal battle progressed over the years:
February 28, 2002: Eleven persons from the Muslim community were killed in violence in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad during the bandh call given by right-wing organisations a day after the Godhra train burning incident in which 58 passengers, mostly Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed.
May 2009: SH Vohra was designated as the judge by the Gujarat High Court to preside over the Naroda Gam case trial. In the same month, the Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a charge sheet against BJP leader and former state minister Maya Kodnani, VHP leader Jaideep Patel, Babu Bajrangi and others. They were charged under IPC Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 395 and 397 (looting) and 143 to 147 (rioting). As per the charge sheet, Kodnani and Patel led the mob.
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July 2009: A special court began proceedings in the case with the SIT submitting its ninth charge sheet.
July 2010: The total number of accused in the case reaches 86 with SIT filing a charge sheet against three more persons.
August 2012: A special court convicted 32 persons including Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi in the Naroda Patiya case, another post-Godhra riot incident in which more than 90 persons were killed.
November 2012: As Judge S H Vora was elevated as the additional judge of Gujarat High Court, Jyotsna Yagnik took over as presiding judge of the Naroda Gam trial.
November 2014: The Nanavati Commission, which was formed by the Gujarat government to probe the incident in 2002, submitted its second and final report on the Gujarat riots in 2014 to the then-state chief minister Anandiben Patel. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, had died in the riots.
August 2017: The Supreme Court asked the special court to conclude the trial in four months.
September 18, 2017: Amit Shah, then BJP president, appeared before the court as a defence witness after Kodnani seeks to examine him to prove her alibi. Kodnani had requested the court to summon him to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and later at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at Naroda Gam where the massacre took place. Shah informed the court he saw Kodnani in the Gujarat Assembly around 8:30 am and at Sola civil hospital around 11:15 am on the day violence took place.
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October 2017: Special judge P B Desai visited the scene of the offence in Naroda Gam to examine the case.
December 2017: A month later, Judge Desai retired.
April 20, 2018: Kodnani was acquitted in the Naroda Patiya massacre case by Gujarat High Court. Further, the HC upheld the conviction of 12 persons including Bajrangi.
August 2018: The SIT informed the special court that Kodnani was present at the crime spot for around 10 minutes and left after “instigating the mob.” It further added that Amit Shah's statement defending Kodnani was "not believable" following which the court took a look at the sting operation carried out by former Tehelka journalist Ashish Khetan, featuring some accused of 2002 riots cases.
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April 20, 2023: A Special court acquitted all 67 accused in the Naroda Gam case including Kodnani and Bajrangi.
(with PTI inputs)
