Dr Maya Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in
prison by a special trial judge for “masterminding” the riots in Naroda Patiya
and Naroda Gam areas in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in 2002. It is highly likely that Kodnani, and others,
may have been framed for political reasons, while those who were guilty got
away. Here’s why.
On 31 August 2012, Jyotsna
Yagnik, the special trial judge, pronounced a 28-year prison sentence against
Dr Maya Kodnani for “masterminding” one of the bloodiest episodes of communal
violence in Ahmedabad on 28 February 2002. This judgement led to widespread
jubilation in the mainstream media, orchestrated by the “secular brigade”
allied to the Congress and the left parties. Kodnani was serving as a minister
for women and child development in Narendra Modi’s government from 2007. So a
jail term for one of Modi’s ministers gave a big boost to the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, making them believe that this would pave
the way for getting at Modi himself, who was then chief minister of Gujarat.
As in the
case of Lt Col Shrikant Purohit’s incarceration, none in the media examined the
case with care. Purohit was released on bail in the Malegaon blasts case even
though the evidence that he was aiding “saffron terrorism” was thin. The
mainstream media simply reproduced the UPA-orchestrated narrative without
questioning the evidence in Purohit’s case.
However,
after discovering some evidence of
mala fide intent in Purohit’s case, I decided to personally examine
Kodnani’s case as well. The motivation for it came from reading the judgment of
Judge Yagnik, who did not accept large parts of the evidence proffered in
favour of Kodnani. For this purpose, I went and met Kodnani’s family in
Ahmedabad about two years ago, and examined the evidence marshalled against her
as well as the evidence Kodnani had put forward in her defence.
Now that my
2014 exposé regarding Purohit’s case has been vindicated and even parts of the
mainstream media have accepted that the UPA government was less than fair with
him by jailing and torturing a serving army officer, I hope readers will follow
the details of Kodnani’s case with an open mind and judge the case on merit.
