Court summons Shah as witness in 2002 Naroda Gam riot case

AHMEDABAD: BJP president Amit Shah has been summoned by a Gujarat court to appear as a witness in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case.

A special court on Tuesday asked Shah to appear before it September 18 based on a request by Maya Kodnani, a former BJP minister who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in another riot case of Naroda Patiya.

“The court has issued summons for September 18. The order was passed on a request of Maya Kodnani,” her lawyer Amit Patel told HT. A qualified gynaecologist running her nursing home in Asarwa area of Ahmedabad, Kodnani was the women and child welfare minister in the then-Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi. Kodnani had first requested the court to summon Shah and 13 others in her defence in April this year.

By summoning Shah and others, including her nursing home staff, Sola civil hospital staff and others, Kodnani will attempt to prove that at the time of riots in Naroda Gam on February 28, she was present at spots like Gujarat assembly, civil hospital, her home and other places, but not Naroda Gam. The riots broke out a day after Sabarmati Express’s S6 coach with karsevaks was set ablaze in Godhra.

According to the application, by summoning Shah she wants to prove that she first met the then-Sarkhej MLA in the assembly and then again at Sola Civil Hospital, where bodies of karsevaks were brought, when the riots broke out.

Kodnani has been accused of inciting violence and leading the mob that killed 11 people at Naroda Gam and was awarded life imprisonment in the case. She is, however, out on bail since 2014 on health grounds.

THE RIOTS BROKE OUT A DAY AFTER SABARMATI EXPRESS’S S6 COACH WITH KARSEVAKS WAS SET ABLAZE IN GODHRA