‘Take my husband back to jail,’ wife of Naroda Patiya convict pleads with Gujarat HC

Rathod was granted temporary bail on September 27 for seven days on the ground of his children’s ill-health. The bail petition was moved by Minalben herself. Till Tuesday, Rathod had not surrendered.

On December 23, a division bench of Justices Harsha Devani and AS Supehia rejected her petition and stated, “If the convict after being enlarged on temporary bail has not surrendered to the jail authorities, it is for the concerned authorities to take necessary action in that regard. The direction as prayed for in the present application cannot be issued.”

According to Minalben’s lawyer Harshit Karathia, she was being subjected to harassment by her husband. “She was beaten up and thrown out of the house. I talked to her today also and she said that she is still at her parent’s house. Her parents don’t want her to go back to the house fearing further harassment.”

In February last year, Minalben had approached the High Court for cancelling her husband’s temporary bail, since she was “physically and mentally harassed by him.” She had again filed for her husband’s temporary bail in September. Rathod is among the 31 people convicted in 2012 for their role in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riots, in which 97 people were killed.