Two decades after the horrific 2002 Gujarat riots, a SIT court in Ahmedabad acquitted all the 67 accused in the jarring Naroda Gam massacre, including former Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) minister Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.
The verdict regarding the acquittal of former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and other accused in the Naroda Gam case was announced by the bench of a special court in Ahmedabad, nearly two decades after the BJP leader was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case.
The Naroda Gam massacre of Muslims was one of the nine major disturbances which occurred during the 2002 Gujarat riots, which saw a violent rift between the Hindu and Muslim communities across several localities in Gujarat.
What happened in the Naroda Gam massacre?
The Naroda Gam massacre case is one of the most horrific crime cases in Gujarat, which took place during the 2002 riots. On February 28 of the year, 11 Muslims were burnt to death by a mob who set fire to their houses in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad.
It was one of the nine bouts of violence against Muslims that broke out in Gujarat after the Godhra train massacre, where 59 Hindu karsevaks returning from Ayodhya were killed in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express, which was allegedly set by Muslim miscreants.
Maya Kodnani, who was a BJP MLA and a minister in the Gujarat government in 2002, under the Narendra Modi cabinet, was deemed the primary accused in the Naroda Gam massacre case.
Witnesses had testified that Kodnani was present at the scene of the crime, handing out swords and weapons to Hindu rioters. Mobile phone records also showed that she was at the scene of the crime, and was in regular touch with police personnel as well as current Home Minister Amit Shah.
After ignoring several SIT probe notices, the former BJP MLA was termed as absconding and was consequently sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2012 in relation to the Naroda Gam massacre.
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