A special court on Thursday has acquitted all 68 defendants in Gujarat in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case, in which 11 members of the Muslim minority were killed amid communal riots.
Among those charged were former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi. During the time between the incident and the court decision, 18 of the 86 accused died.
The defendants were charged with a variety of offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) provisions, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to kill), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with lethal weapons), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), and 153 (provocation for riots). The highest penalty for these offences is death.
S K Baxi, the Special Investigation Agency (SIT) special judge, pronounced the verdict.
On February 28, 2002, eleven people were killed in communal rioting in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Gam neighbourhood during a protest bandh against the Godhra train burning incident, which resulted in the deaths of 58 Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya.
According to special prosecutor Suresh Shah, the Naroda Gam massacre trial began in 2010 and lasted nearly 13 years, with six different judges presiding over the case. The prosecution called 187 witnesses during the trial, while the defence called 57 witnesses.
In September 2017, senior BJP leader (and now Union Home Minister) Amit Shah appeared in Maya Kodnani’s defence.
Kodnani, 67, had asked the court to summon him to prove her alibi that she was present in the Gujarat Assembly and thereafter at the Sola Civil Hospital and not at the massacre site in Naroda Gam.
The prosecution revealed video evidence of a sting operation carried out by journalist Ashish Khetan, as well as call information of Kodnani, Bajrangi, and others throughout the relevant period.
S H Vora presided over the trial as it began. He was elevated to the Gujarat High Court. During the trial, his successors, Jyotsna Yagnik, K K Bhatt, and P B Desai, all retired.
Prosecutor Shah stated that the next special judge, M K Dave, was transferred.
“The trial (witness depositions) ended about four years ago. When then-special judge P B Desai retired, the prosecution’s arguments had completed and the defence was presenting its case. As a result, arguments began again before Judge Dave and later before Judge Baxi, which delayed the proceedings,” he explained.
Kodnani, a minister in Gujarat’s Narendra Modi government, was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison in the Naroda Patiya riot case, in which 97 people were massacred. The Gujarat High Court later released her.
She has been charged with criminal conspiracy in addition to rioting, murder, and attempted murder in this case.
The Naroda Gam tragedy was one of nine major communal riots incidents investigated by the SIT and heard by special tribunals in 2002.
