A special court has ordered BJP president Amit Shah to appear in person as a witness for Naroda Gam mass murder accused Maya Kodnani or assign his lawyer in the case.
Kodnani was a state minister for women and child development in the then BJP government in Gujarat led by Narendra Modi.
She has been found guilty of the massacre of nearly 100 Muslims in a neighborhood called Naroda Patiya, which is close to Naroda Gam where 11 Muslims were killed in the 2002 riots during a bandh call given to protest against the Godhra train burning incident.
A judge has ordered that Shah must appear either in person or assign a lawyer to respond as defence witness of Kodnani on Monday, reported NDTV. The court had asked Kodnani to respond whether Shah would depose as her witness to prove her alibi, as he was the last defence witness to be examined.
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Earlier, Kodnani had sought time from a special SIT court, saying that she was not able to find Shah's address where the court could issue summons to him.
In total 82 people are facing trial in the case. The apex court had in September last year given the special court six-month time to conclude trial.
(With PTI inputs)
