- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
In a significant development, a special court in Ahmedabad in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday (20) acquitted all 69 people accused in a massacre case during the 2002 riots in the state where 11 members of a minority community were killed.
The case, known as the Naroda Gam massacre case, was among the nine major riots in the western state that broke out following the burning down of a compartment in a train in Godhra, Gujarat, on February 27, 2002. A speedy day-to-day trial was ordered into the case but it took years for a verdict.
The case is a high-profile one as it includes among the accused Maya Kodnani, a former minister in the Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi who was the chief minister of the state at the time of the riots. Babu Bajrangi, a former leader of Bajrang Dal and Jaideep Patel of Vishwa Hindu Parishad are also among the accused.
In 2012, Kodnani and Bajrangi were convicted in the Naroda Patiya case of February 28, 2002, the worst massacre of the riots. Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in jail but she was acquitted by the high court of Gujarat in 2018.
There were in all 86 accused in the Naroda Gam case of whom 17 have died. The remaining 69 are currently out on bail. Nearly 182 prosecution witnesses were examined in the case and special judge Shubhada Krishnakant Baxi concluded the proceedings earlier in April.
Among charges faced by the accused are murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting and others.
On February 28, 2002, 11 Muslims were charred after mobs set their houses ablaze in a locality known as Muslim Maholla, Kumbhar Vas, in Ahmedabad’s Naroda Gam area.
A report of Justice Nanavati Commission that investigated the Gujarat riots noted statements of witnesses that “there was no police help received by the Muslims and they were simply at the mercy of the miscreants” and that police help reached only in the evening, Indian Express reported.
Several police officers deposed before the probe panel that they were not able to reach Naroda Gam as they were managing the situation at Naroda Patiya, which also took place at the same time.
The commission said “police force at the place was inadequate” and that the police “were not even properly equipped”.
It said in conclusion that “it cannot be said that they deliberately allowed the incident to happen.”
