More than two decades after 11 Muslim community members were killed following the Godhra train carnage in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Gam, a special court here on Thursday acquitted all the 67 accused in the case, including former Gujarat Minister Maya Kodnani and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.
The Ahmedabad-based court of SK Baxi, special judge for Special Investigation Team (SIT) cases, acquitted all the accused in one of the worst massacres witnessed during the State-wide riots triggered by the Sabarmati train carnage on February 27, 2002. The Naroda Gam case was probed by a Supreme Court-appointed SIT. A detailed court order was awaited.
Those acquitted include former BJP minister in the Gujarat government Kodnani (67), former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi. There were a total of 86 accused in the case, of which 18 died during the pendency of the trial, while one was discharged by the court earlier under Section 169 of the CrPC due to insufficient evidence against him.
Reacting to her acquittal, Kodnani said, “The truth has truly won today.” Advocate Chetan Shah, who represented 82 out of the 86 accused, said he made sure “innocents” were acquitted for which he presented a written argument in the court running into 7,719 pages.
Advocate Shahshad Pathan, who represented the victims, said the acquittal order will be challenged in the Gujarat High Court. “We will study the grounds on which the special court decided to acquit all the accused and challenge the order in the High Court. It appears the victims have been denied justice. The question remains as to who burnt 11 persons to death in the presence of policemen?” Pathan said.
One of the accused who was acquitted said the special court’s judgment has exposed those who conspired to frame innocents like him. “The court has passed its order after studying all the aspects of the case. That the truth always wins has been proved again today,” he said.
Riots broke out in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, during a bandh called to protest the torching of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express by a mob near Godhra station a day earlier. As many as 58 train passengers, mostly karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, were charred to death.
Six different judges have presided over the case. When the trial started in 2010, SH Vora was the presiding judge. He was later elevated to the Gujarat High Court. Special judges who subsequently handled the case included Jyotsna Yagnik, KK Bhatt and PB Desai, all of whom retired during the pendency of the trial.
Special judge MK Dave came next, but was transferred before the conclusion of the trial, advocate Chetan Shah said.
Kodnani was separately convicted and sentenced to 28 years in jail by the trial court in the case related to the post-Godhra riot in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Patiya area where 97 people were massacred. She was later discharged by the High Court. The massacre at Naroda Gam was one of the nine major 2002 communal riots cases investigated by the SC-appointed SIT and heard by special courts.