Gujarat High Court clears Maya Kodnani in Naroda Patiya massacre

The Gujarat High Court overturned on Friday former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani's 28-year jail sentence by a lower court in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre case and acquitted her.

The court gave Kodnani, called the kingpin of the killings, the benefit of doubt because charges against her could not be established. A division bench of Justices Harsha Devani and AS Supehia also cleared 17 others.

However, the court convicted 16, including former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi. The court named him as one of the conspirators but reduced his sentence from life imprisonment till death to 21 years without remission.

Kodnani has been out on bail since 2014, while Bajrangi is in prison. Ninety-seven persons were killed in the massacre in the Ahmedabad suburb — the highest in any post-Godhra riot case. Kodnani was among the 32 convicted by a special SIT court in August 2012.

Their sentence ranged from 24 years to life imprisonment till death. The convicts had challenged the order in the High Court.

The Bench noted that none of the police witnesses had seen Kodnani at Naroda Patiya on the day of the massacre, and that the statements of other witnesses were inconsistent and contradictory.

One convict had died in 2014. Of the remaining 31, the High Court overturned the conviction of 18, including Kodnani, and upheld the conviction of 13 others, including Bajrangi. The court also overturned the acquittal of three other accused, and convicted them. Their quantum of sentence will be announced at a later date.

Advocate Shamshad Khan Pathan, who represented the victims, said that they would challenge the HC order in the Supreme Court. He said that there were several loopholes in the original investigation, which is why the Supreme Court had formed the SIT. State BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said that Kodnani's name did not figure in the FIR filed in 2002, but it was added later as a part of a conspiracy by Congress.

Riots had broken out at several places in the state on February 28, 2002, a day after 59 persons were killed when S-6 coach of Ahmedabad-bound Sabarmati Express was set on fire at Godhra railway station. The riots had led to the killing of at least 1,000 people, but the Naroda Patiya massacre was the worst.

Kodnani was not a minister at the time of the riots, but got the position later. She quit her post when she was arrested in 2009.

Major relief 

97 people 

Had been killed in Ahmedabad’s suburb in 2002 

28 years  

Was Kodnani’s sentence given by a special SIT court

21 years 

Is Bajrangi’s sentence now, down from earlier life-term