Gujarat

"A two-member Gujarat high court bench consisting of justice M.R. Shah and justice K.S. Jhaveri recused itself on Wednesday from hearing appeals on the Naroda Patiya case dating back to the 2002 riots on the grounds that some of the convicts tried to approach them. The matter involved appeals by 29 convicts, including the former Bharatiya Janata Party minister Maya Kadnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajarangi, who were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special trial court in 2012. They challenged the conviction by the special trial court.

'Jyotsana Yagnik, the special judge who convicted and handed life terms to former Gujarat minister and BJP leader Maya Kodnani, former Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and 30 others in the 2002 massacre of 97 Muslims in Naroda Patiya, has received at least 22 threat letters and “blank phone calls” at her home since the August 2012 verdict. Sixty-two-year-old Yagnik, who has since retired, has informed the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) about the threat letters and phone calls.

'A special CBI court dropped charges against Additional Director-General of Police, Gujarat, Geeta Johri on Monday in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases, saying the CBI had failed to obtain the mandatory sanction from the Gujarat government for prosecution of an IPS officer. “Prosecution against Johri stands dropped for want of sanction,” Judge M.B. Gosavi said after her counsel, Sachin Pawar, moved a discharge application on the ground that the sanction had not been obtained... Ms.

'“If you are granting bail to the convicts, you are making a mockery of punishment. They are in and out of jail, or on parole. What kind of punishment is this?” asked Bilawar Umrao Sayyed, a witness in the Naroda Patiya riots case. Survivors came together for a commemoration on Saturday marking the 13th anniversary of the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Many of those affected by the carnage on Saturday questioned the granting of bail to the accused. They also condemned the reinstatement of several police officers.