Naroda Patiya riots case: SIT opposes Kodnani’s plea to summon Amit Shah

Kodnani, who has challenged her conviction and life sentence in the Naroda Patiya riots, made the plea to summon Shah and seven others as additional witnesses in a bid to prove her alibi of being elsewhere when the massacre took place. Five of these names were mentioned in the chargesheet; the remaining three, including Shah, are new witnesses.

Ninety-seven people were killed in Naroda Patiya area of Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002. Opposing Kodnani’s move, the SIT said that the petition is “a result of an afterthought, and has been filed after a gap of four years to delay the proceedings”. It argued that the appeal petitions in the case were filed in 2012, and the division bench started the hearing in December 2016.

Kodnani has moved her petition under Section 391 of the CrPC, which empowers an appellate court, “if it thinks additional evidence to be necessary, shall record its reasons and…either take such evidence itself or direct it to be taken by a magistrate”.

The petition has also cited the provision of CrPC Section 311, which has provision for summoning material witness. The SIT argued that Section 391 of CrPC gives power to court to consider additional evidence, and not party respondents. Therefore, it argued, Kodnani’s petition cannot be entertained.

The court will hear detailed arguments from both sides on Tuesday.

Besides BJP president Shah, Kodnani has sought the court’s permission to produce former BJP MLA from Asarva Amrish Patel, Dhaval Shah, Dhirajbhai Rathod, M D Lakhiya, Shantilal Soni, Kantibhai Solanki, and Jagdish Patel.

Earlier this month, Kodnani had moved an application before a special trial court hearing the separate Naroda Gam riots case, in which 11 people had been killed. She had sought summons to be issued to 14 people, including Amit Shah, to examine them as her defence witnesses. The special court had allowed that petition.