Naroda Patiya: Kodnani, 31 others to be sentenced today

A special court will pronounce the quantum of punishment for each of the 32 persons, including former minister Maya Kodnani and ex-VHP leader Babu Bajrangi, who have been convicted for their involvement in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacare. BJP MLA and former minister in the Narendra Modi government Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi are among the 32 people convicted by a special court in the Naroda Patiya riots case, in which, 97 people belonging to the minority community were killed. [caption id=“attachment_437547” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] Kodnani and Bajrangi were held guilty under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 302 (murder) of India Penal Code (IPC) and the prosecution sought the maximum punishment of death sentence for all those convicted. Citing it as a ‘rarest of rare’ case, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) lawyers have already sought capital punishment for all the accused, including sitting BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi. On Wednesday, during the arguments on the quantum of sentence, lawyers of Kodnani and other convicts had sought leniency from the court. The Naroda Patiya massacre is the largest single case of mass murder during the 2002 Gujarat riots that broke out following the Sabarmati Express train carnage near Godhra station. The case has been probed by a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team (SIT). As many as 327 witnesses, comprising eye witnesses, victims, doctors, police personnel, government officials, forensic experts and journalists including Ashish Khetan, who conducted a TV sting operation on the accused, were examined by the court. Initially, 46 people were arrested by the Gujarat Police, whereas 24 more people were apprehended after the probe was handed over to the SIT in 2008. In all, 70 people were arrested in the case. Six persons died before the charges could be framed and trial started, while two others identified as Mohan Nepali and Tejas Pathak jumped bail and are still absconding. Among the 2002 riots cases probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), in which rulings have come, Naroda is the only case, where convicts (32) outnumber those acquitted (29). In the Godhra train carnage case, court had convicted 31 and acquitted 63. In Sardarpura case, court had convicted 31 and acquitted 42, while in Dipda Darwaja case 22 had been convicted and 61 acquitted. Naroda Patiya massacre case trail started in August 2009 with 62 people being charged by the SIT. However, one of the accused, Vijay Shetty, died during the trial. With inputs from PTI