Victims of Naroda Gam case to challenge Special Court verdict in Gujarat High Court

A special court in Ahmedabad on Thursday, 20 April, acquitted all accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case of Gujarat. Former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi were among those 86 accused in the case. Out of 86 accused, 18 have died. In 2002 Naroda Gam massacre, 11 people were killed during the communal riots. Those acquitted include former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister in the Gujarat government Kodnani (67), former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel and ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

Meanwile, Shamshad Pathan, who represented the victims, said they would challenge the court’s decision in a higher court. “Justice has eluded the victims once again. We will study the grounds on which the court has acquitted the accused persons,” Pathan said.

Pathan added judgement will be challenged before the Gujarat High Court because “justice was denied” to them, accused and their relatives termed the verdict, which came more than 21 years after the incident, as a “victory of truth”.

Advocate Chetan Shah, who represented 82 out of the 86 accused, said he made sure “innocents” were acquitted for which he presented written arguments in the court.

A detailed judgement is expected to be made available in the coming days.

The Ahmedabad-based court of S K Baxi, special judge for Special Investigation Team (SIT) cases, acquitted all the 68 accused in one of the worst massacres witnessed during the state-wide riots triggered by the Sabarmati train carnage on February 27, 2002, after a trial spanning 13 years and half a dozen judges. The Naroda Gam case was probed by a Supreme Court-appointed SIT.

A detailed judgement is expected to be made available in the coming days.

Maya Kodnani, who was part of the cabinet while present Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison. However, Kodnani was later acquitted by the Gujarat High Court. This riot was one of the nine major communal riots in the year 2022 and the case was investigated by the SIT.

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 (Code of Criminal Procedure) due to insufficient evidence against him. The section relates to release of accused when evidence is deficient.

All the 68 accused who were let off were already out on bail.