Maya Kodnani | |
---|---|
Member of Legislative Assembly, Gujarat | |
In office 1998–2012 | |
Preceded by | Gopaldas Bhojwani |
Succeeded by | Nirmala Wadhwani |
Constituency | Naroda |
Personal details | |
Born | 1956 (age 67–68) Itanagar,Arunachal Pradesh,India |
Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
Maya Surendrakumar Kodnani is a former Minister of State for Women and Child Development in the Government of Gujarat. Kodnani joined the 12th legislative assembly of Gujarat after being elected to represent the constituency of Naroda as a candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In 2012,Kodnani was sentenced to twenty-eight years' imprisonment for her participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots but acquitted in 2018 by the Gujarat High Court. Kodnani was one of the most high-profile individuals to be convicted in the case,as well being the only woman among the accused. [1] [2]
Kodnani is the daughter of a Sindhi Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker who moved to India during the Indian Partition. She had her early education in a Gujarati-medium school. She also joined Rashtra Sevika Samiti,the parallel organisation of RSS for women. [3]
Kodnani joined the Baroda Medical College from where she did her MBBS and Diploma in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. She set up Shivam Maternity Hospital at Kubernagar in Naroda,Ahmedabad. [4]
Kodnani began her political career with Ahmedabad civic elections in 1995. She was elected three times from the Naroda constituency as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the BJP. [5] In 1998,she won the election with a margin of 75,000 votes. In December 2002,shortly after 2002 Gujarat riots,she won by a margin of 110,000 votes. In 2007,her margin increased 180,000 votes. [6] After winning the elections in 2007,she was named as Minister for Women and Child Development of Gujarat in Narendra Modi's BJP government, [5] but resigned from the post in 2009 pending her arrest as accused for the Naroda Patiya massacre. [7]
Kodnani was convicted of orchestrating the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacres of the 2002 Gujarat riots on 28 February 2002,in which 97 Muslims,including 36 women and 35 children,were murdered by stabbing,dismemberment and being burned alive individually as well as in groups. [5] [7] Witnesses testified that Kodnani was at the scene of the crimes,handed out swords to Hindu rioters,exhorted them to attack Muslims and at one point fired a pistol. [8] Bajrang Dal members Suresh Richard and Prakash Rathod told Tehelka's journalists on spy camera that Kodnani drove around Naroda all day,urging the mob to hunt Muslims down and kill them. [9] Mobile phone records also placed her at the scene and showed her to be in regular communication with the top police officials,the Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia and the Chief Minister's office. [10] The mobile phone records were buried by the police and brought to light by the Nanavati-Mehta Commission in 2004. They were later investigated by R. K. Raghavan-led Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court of India in 2008.
Kodnani ignored notices for deposition by the SIT,which declared her an absconder in February 2009. She obtained an anticipatory bail from a sessions court,which was revoked by the Gujarat High Court on 27 March 2009,leading to her subsequent arrest. [6]
She was tried in the Naroda Patiya massacre case and,on 31 August 2012,convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison. [8] [11] The court judgement called her the "kingpin of the Naroda Patiya massacre." Kodnani continued to maintain her innocence,claiming that she was at the Sola Civil Hospital at the time of the riots,meeting the relatives of Godhra victims. [12]
On 17 April 2013,the Gujarat government filed an appeal in the High Court seeking the death penalty for Kodnani [13] but withdrew it on 14 May. [14] In November 2013,she was granted an interim bail of three months for treatment of intestinal tuberculosis. [15] On 30 July 2014,Gujarat High Court granted bail to her on grounds of ill health and suspended her prison sentence. [16] On 20 April 2018,the High Court overturned the trial court's findings and acquitted Maya Kodnani,while upholding the conviction of Suresh Richard and Prakash Rathod. [17] [18]
Maya Kodnani is married to Surendra Kodnani,who is a general physician. [19]
Teesta Setalvad is a controversial Indian civil rights activist and journalist. She is the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP),an organisation formed to advocate for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots.
Pravin Togadia is an Indian doctor,cancer surgeon and an advocate for Hindu nationalism,coming from the state of Gujarat. He was the former International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a cancer surgeon by qualification. He is Founder and Current President of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad. He had a falling-out with the Sangh Parivar and is a vocal critic of Narendra Modi.
Naroda is a fast-growing area in Ahmedabad,northeast of central Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat.
The Godhra train burning occurred on the morning of 27 February 2002,when 59 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya were killed in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express near the Godhra railway station in Gujarat,India. The cause of the fire remains disputed. The Gujarat riots,during which Muslims were the targets of widespread and severe violence,took place shortly afterward.
The 2002 Gujarat riots,also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom,was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002,which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya,is cited as having instigated the violence. Following the initial riot incidents,there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months;statewide,there were further outbreaks of violence against the minority Muslim population of Gujarat for the next year.
Haren Pandya was the Home Minister of Gujarat in India. He was murdered in 2003 in Ahmedabad,Gujarat,when he was sitting in his car,after a morning walk in the Law Garden area in Ahmedabad.
Babubhai Patel,known by his alias Babu Bajrangi,was the leader of the Gujarat-wing of Bajrang Dal,a Hindu right wing organization in India. He was a central figure during the 2002 Gujarat violence. He was sentenced to life term imprisonment by a special court for his role in masterminding the Naroda Patiya massacre in which 97 Muslims were murdered including 36 women,26 men and 35 children. The Supreme Court of India granted him bail on medical grounds in March 2019.
Ehsan Jafri was an Indian politician and former member of the 6th Lok Sabha for the Congress Party,who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre.
The Gulbarg Society massacre took place on 28 February 2002,during the 2002 Gujarat riots,when a crowd started stone pelting the Gulbarg Society,a Muslim neighbourhood in the eastern part of Chamanpura,Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat. Most of the houses were burnt,and at least 35 victims,including a former Congress Member of Parliament,Ehsan Jafri,were burnt alive,while 31 others went missing after the incident,later presumed dead,bringing the total deaths to 69.
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Sanjiv Bhatt is a former Indian Police Service officer of the Gujarat-cadre. He is known for his role in filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India against the then Chief Minister of Gujarat,Narendra Modi,concerning Modi's alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. He claimed to have attended a meeting,during which Modi allegedly asked top police officials to let Hindus vent their anger against the Muslims. However,the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India concluded that Bhatt did not attend any such meeting,and dismissed his allegations.
The Naroda Patiya massacre took place on 28 February 2002 at Naroda,in Ahmedabad,India,during the 2002 Gujarat riots. 97 Muslims were killed by a mob of approximately 5,000 people,organised by the Bajrang Dal,a wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad,and allegedly supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party which was in power in the Gujarat State Government. The massacre at Naroda occurred during the bandh (strike) called by Vishwa Hindu Parishad a day after the Godhra train burning. The riot lasted over 10 hours,during which the mob plundered,stabbed,sexually assaulted,gang-raped and burnt people individually and in groups. After the conflict,a curfew was imposed in the state and Indian Army troops were called in to contain further violence.
The Truth:Gujarat 2002 was an investigative report on the 2002 Gujarat riots published by India's Tehelka news magazine in its 7 November 2007 issue. The video footage was screened by the news channel Aaj Tak. The report,based on a six-month-long investigation and involving video sting operations,stated that the violence was made possible by the support of the state police and the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi for the perpetrators. The report and the reactions to it were widely covered in Indian and international media. The recordings were authenticated by India's Central Bureau of Investigation on 10 May 2009.
Mukul Sinha was an Indian human rights activist and a lawyer at the Gujarat High Court in Ahemdabad. He was an active trade union leader and a trained physicist. He legally represented the families of the individuals who were killed in Gujarat following the 2002 riots and in Manipur,in which he secured convictions of the politicians and police officers involved. Along with his wife Nirjhari Sinha,he founded and served as the president of Jan Sangharsh Manch,an independent civil rights organization with the aim of addressing issues of labour and workers rights. He was also a vocal critic of erstwhile Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
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Rahul Sharma is an ex Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Gujarat cadre turned practicing lawyer with Gujarat High Court. He was inducted into the service in 1992. He played a crucial role in policing operations during the 2002 Gujarat riots. He was seconded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2004,and served there for the next three years. Later,he served as the DIG at Rajkot,Gujarat until seeking voluntary retirement from active service in 2015.
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