Gujarat’s Minister for Women and Child Development Maya Kodnani on March 27 became the first minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet to be arrested in connection with the Gujarat communal carnage of 2002. Kodnani, 53, now faces charges of murder, abetment to murder and arson in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacres. As many as 98 Muslims were killed in Naroda Patiya and 11 in Naroda Gam.
The Gujarat High Court struck down the anticipatory bail that a lower court had given to Kodnani, an Ahmedabad gynaecologist, and VHP leader Jaideep Patel, accused in the Naroda Gam case, leaving them no choice but to surrender before the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigative Team (SIT). Kodnani resigned from the Modi cabinet before she surrendered.
“Religious fanatics do not belong to any religion, they are no better than terrorists who kill innocent people for no rhyme or reason,” Justice DH Waghela, who struck down the bail, said. “Communal harmony is the hallmark of democracy. If in the name of religion people are killed, that is absolutely a slur and a blot on a society governed by the rule of law.” Justice Waghela, referring to the call records of Kodnani’s cellphone on February 28, 2002, said Kodnani could have been present in Naroda area for at least 40 minutes in the morning and also in the afternoon.
The judgement said that the activities of Kodnani (who was then an MLA) at the scene of offence where violent mobs with weapons had gathered in an atmosphere surcharged with anger and hatred, showed nothing to claim that she made a bid to quell or control the mobs. “Nor is it believable that they visited the scenes of offences for any personal or private purpose.”
In a severe indictment of the role of the ruling party politicians, Justice Waghela said: “A murder committed due to deep-seated mutual and personal rivalry may not call for penalty of death. But an organized crime for mass murders of innocent people would call for imposition of death sentence as deterrence.”