File photo of BJP leader Maya Kodnani. (Image: Reuters)
Kodnani was a minister in the Gujarat government in 2002, when riots broke out after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was set on fire in Godhra.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Maya Kodnani and 66 other accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case were on Thursday acquitted by a special court in Gujarat.
The Ahmedabad-based court of Special Judge for SIT cases SK Bakshi acquitted all the accused in a major post-Godhra riots case that was being probed by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.
Those acquitted include Kodnani, former VHP leader Jaideep Patel and former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.
There were a total of 86 accused in the case, of whom 18 died during the trial, while one was earlier acquitted by the court.
Who is Maya Kodnani?
- Kodnani was a minister in the Gujarat government in 2002, when riots broke out in Godhra after a coach of the Sabarmati Express was torched.
- In 2012, he was convicted in the Naroda Patiya riots case in which 97 people were killed. However, in 2018, the Gujarat High Court overturned the trial court’s decision and acquitted him.
- The daughter of an RSS worker who migrated to India due to the partition, Kodnani attended a Gujarati medium school. She became a doctor after studying at Baroda Medical College. He also established a maternity hospital at Naroda.
- Kodnani entered electoral politics in 1995 with a victory in the Ahmedabad civic elections.
- She was first elected from the Naroda seat in 1998 and retained the seat in the 2002 and 2007 assembly elections. In 2007, she was appointed as the Minister of State for Women and Child Development in Gujarat.
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