FORMER BJP MINISTER, 66 OTHERS ACQUITTED IN NARODA GAM MASSACRE IN WHICH 11 MUSLIMS WERE KILLED

Fmr Gujarat min and BJP leader Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

Thu 20 Apr 2023:

A special court in Ahmedabad designated for speedy trial of 2002 Gujarat genocide on Thursday acquitted all 67 accused, including former BJP MLA Maya Kodnani, ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Jaydeep Patel, in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case where 11 Muslims were killed.

The verdict by special judge Shubhada Baxi was welcomed outside the court by chants of “Jai Shree Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” by the relatives of the accused.

2002ના નરોડા ગામ રામખાણ કેસમાં ચુકાદા બાદ શું બોલ્યા બચાવ પક્ષના વકીલ ? #gujarat #ahmedabad #naroda #narodagamcase #JUDGEMENT #gujaratfirst pic.twitter.com/2K1iWa2aeJ

— Gujarat First (@GujaratFirst) April 20, 2023

2002ના નરોડા ગામ રામખાણ કેસમાં નિર્દોષ જાહેર થયા બાદ શું બોલ્યા માયા કોડનાની ? #gujarat #ahmedabad #naroda #narodagamcase #JUDGEMENT #gujaratfirst #mayakodnani pic.twitter.com/EREse3Itep

— Gujarat First (@GujaratFirst) April 20, 2023

On February 28, 2002, 11 Muslims were burnt to death after mobs set their houses on fire in a locality known as Muslim Maholla, Kumbhar Vas, in the Naroda Gam area of Ahmedabad.

Of the 86 accused in the case, 17 were abated during the course of the trial, leaving 69 accused to stand the trial. All the accused are currently out on bail.

"Jai Shri Ram" slogan were raised outside the court.

In the 2002 Naroda Gam burning of 11 Muslims alive, the Ahmedabad court acquitted all 69 accused, including Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi. pic.twitter.com/bWSc19cDjv

— Meer Faisal (@meerfaisal01) April 20, 2023

Nearly 182 prosecution witnesses were examined in the case.

Several fact-finding reports have detailed Kodnani’s role in Naroda Patiya massacre. Narendra Modi was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, who has been accused of abetting the anti-Muslim genocide.

A trial court had convicted both Kodnani and Bajrangi in the Naroda Patiya case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. However, the Gujarat High Court had overturned Kodnani’s conviction, acquitting her, and had upheld Bajrangi’s conviction in the Naroda Patiya case in 2018.

The Naroda Gam case was among the nine major riots in Gujarat following the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra on February 27, 2002, in which a speedy day-to-day trial was ordered.

Who is Babu Bajrangi?

In the sting video which has been touted as concluding evidence by many on social media sites, Babu Bajrangi, the Bajrang Dal leader can be heard admitting that Narendra Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat helped him in taking vengeance for the Godhra train burnings.

Bajrangi is a member of the Gujarat unit of the Bajrang Dal and he confessed during a sting operation to have actively participated in the killing of men, women and children in Naroda Patiya – an Ahmedabad neighbourhood witness to the worst rioting in February 2002, leading to the deaths of 97 people.

Bajrangi enthusiastically describing how he slit open a pregnant woman, pulled the foetus out of her belly and impaled it on a trishul.

Bajrangi could be heard saying, “There were Police right there, just standing with eyes closed. The cops could have easily stopped us had they wanted to. The cops fired at them (Muslims), but not at us.” Bajrangi also claimed that the cops even told his men to go and ‘finish’ the other side. “We used their own gas cylinders to create explosions in their homes. The Police used to get calls from (Muslims) for help but they never answered the calls,” he said.

Bajrangi then talked about the Police Commissioner who came and said that such a huge death toll cannot be reported. “The bodies were dumped across the city and then recovered for postmortems. We butchered them like what happened in Haldighati and we are proud of it. We did not spare anyone of them – be it the women or children, we slashed and burnt them all.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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