SIT to challenge all 67 acquittals in 2002 Naroda Gam case

AHMEDABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team will challenge in the Gujarat HC the special court’s acquittal of all 67 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam massacre case last week, top sources said Sunday.
SIT sources said the agency firmly believes that it had placed on record strong, reliable and irrefutable evidence against the accused in the case. After the special SIT court acquitted the 67 accused Thursday, the SIT is now set to file an appeal before the HC after scrutinising the copy of judgment, which is awaited.
The case pertains to the killing of 11 people on February 28, 2002, a day after a mob torched the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express near Godhra railway station, leaving 59 karsevaks returning from Ayodhya dead.
The SC constituted the SIT and tasked it to probe nine riot cases, including Naroda Gam. It was after the SIT came into action, the then minister Maya Kodnani, VHP’s ex-general secretary Jaydeep Patel and a few other peop le were arrested and put on a trial on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting and arson. The SIT arrested 37 more people after taking over the probe from Gujarat police in 2008. The SIT ’s prosecutors examined 187 witnesses, whereas the accused examined 58 witnesses in their defence. Kodnani brought Union home minister Amit Shah to the witness box in her defence to prove he r alibi that she was not in Naroda that day, but had left for Sola Civil Hospital after attending the state assembly. Bodies were brought from Godhra to that hospital.
After a 14 year trial, special judge SK Baxi acquitted all accused, including Kodnani.