http://www.indianexpress.com/
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 on Wednesday, in which, 97 people belonging to the minority community were killed.
Special court judge Jyotsana Yagnik convicted them on charges of conspiracy and murder in the case, even as 29 other accused were acquitted.
Kodnani, a three-time MLA from Naroda area, who was considered to be close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is the first woman and first MLA to be convicted in a post-Godhra riots case.
Kodnani and Bajrangi were held guilty under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC and the prosecution sought the maximum punishment of death sentence for all the convicts.
Yesterday, during the arguments on the quantum of sentence, lawyers of Kodnani and other convicts had sought leniency from the court.
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.
Agencies
: Ahmedabad, Fri Aug 31 2012, 09:23 hrs
A special court will pronounce the quantum of punishment for 32 convicts in
the 2002 post-Godhra Naroda Patiya massacre case here today. 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 on Wednesday, in which, 97 people belonging to the minority community were killed.
Special court judge Jyotsana Yagnik convicted them on charges of conspiracy and murder in the case, even as 29 other accused were acquitted.
Kodnani, a three-time MLA from Naroda area, who was considered to be close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is the first woman and first MLA to be convicted in a post-Godhra riots case.
Kodnani and Bajrangi were held guilty under sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC and the prosecution sought the maximum punishment of death sentence for all the convicts.
Yesterday, during the arguments on the quantum of sentence, lawyers of Kodnani and other convicts had sought leniency from the court.
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.
