File pic: Ex-Modi minister Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi, convicted in 2002 riots
The Gujarat government has asked the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) not to seek the death penalty for Narendra Modi's former minister Maya Kodnani, who was convicted in one of the worst massacres of the 2002 riots.
This was after state Advocate General Kamal Trivedi said there was "no direct evidence" against Kodnani. He has, however, has given the go-ahead for seeking the death penalty for Bajrang Dal activist Babu Bajrangi and four other people convicted along with Kodnani.
Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in prison last year for the murder of 97 Muslims at Naroda Patiya village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad during the riots that raged through Gujarat in February 2002. Importantly, the trial court while convicting Kodnani, had termed her a prime conspirator.
In April this year, the Gujarat government set up a three-member team of public prosecutors to prepare groundwork for filing an appeal seeking death penalty for Kodnani, Bajrangi and four others.
But the very next month, the Modi government did a U-turn on Kodnani, asking the SIT to hold off its plea for death sentence until the Advocate General gave his opinion.
Kodnani, a doctor by profession, is the first MLA and the highest-ranking politician to be convicted in a Gujarat riots case. The Modi government has been accused of changing its stand on Kodnani under pressure from the Sangh Parivar.
The three-time BJP MP from Naroda was an RSS star in Gujarat and despite the serious criminal charges against her in the riots case, she was made the state's Minister for Women and Child Development in 2007 by Mr Modi.