Gujarat riots: ‘Babu Bajrangi’s brutal act done out of irrational hatred’

Babu Bajrangi did indeed hit the pregnant woman, Kausharbanu, with a sword but he could not have taken out her foetus on the tip of the weapon.

This is the observation of Judge Jyotsna Yagnik on one of the most blood-curdling incidents said to have taken place during the Naroda Patiya massacre.

The judge held Bajrangi guilty of cold blooded murder of Kausharbanu and said that he had committed the crime simply out of an irrational hatred of Muslims, and not with the intention of preventing the birth of a child (Section 315 of IPC).

Interestingly, the sting operation carried out by a Tehelka journalist had captured Bajarangi himself on film boasting of this ghastly act. Further, Kausherbanu’s brother who was 14 years old at the time of the incident, had given testimony in court stating that Bajrangi had split open his pregnant sister’s stomach and held the foetus aloft on his sword.

However, the judge held that it was very clear that Bajarangi had hit Kausharbanu on her stomach with a sword. “But it cannot be believed that he could take out the foetus from the body because that can be done by a trained gynaecologist or a very experienced person,” the judged has observed in her verdict in the case.

“However, the flesh which came out [with the sword] seems to have been perceived by him and all concerned as the foetus from her body,” the judge said.

The court further said that, it is clear that Bajarangi had successfully attacked the pregnant Kausharbanu who then fell down and became unconscious.

“The attack resulted in injuries and then ultimately she was burnt there at the site and thus her homicidal death was committed along with [that of the] fetus in her body,” the judge has stated in her order. 

The judge also observed that there was no evidence to prove that Bajrangi had the intention of killing specifically Kausharbanu. His immense hatred of Muslims is exhibited in his genuine revelation in the [Tehelka’s] sting operation but he had no specific intention to kill a pregnant woman and take out her fetus, the judge said.