Maya Kodnani,Patel granted bail

BJP leader Maya Kodnani and VHP leader Jaydeep Patel were granted conditional bail on Tuesday by the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions court....

BJP leader Maya Kodnani and VHP leader Jaydeep Patel were granted conditional bail on Tuesday by the Ahmedabad City Civil and Sessions court in connection with the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacres. The two leaders,facing serious criminal charges of instigating riots,were arrested by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in March this year.

The two have been given bails on a bond of Rs 10,000 and on conditions that they submit their passports to the police and report to the local police on a regular basis. They have also been asked not to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses in the case. Meanwhile,senior SIT officials said they would go through the order and decide whether to challenge it in the High Court or not. The hearing on the bail applications of the two accused took place in the court of Sessions Judge C H Patel.

While Kodnani is an accused in both the Naroda Patiya and the Naroda Gam cases,Patel is an accused in the Naroda Gam case. Arguing that Kodnani and Patel be granted bail,their lawyer,Mitesh Amin,said that many others accused in the case with more grave charges had been granted bail by the Sessions Court and High Court. The defence also said that since the versions of the witnesses have not been consistent,the benefit of doubt should be given to the two accused and the authenticity of the witness statements should be left for the trial court to decide.

The Gujarat High Court had cancelled the anticipatory bails of the accused in March. Amin argued that since the present bail application is being heard after the chargesheets have been filed,there was no need for custodial interrogation,and the High Court order should not be considered while deciding on the applications.

This article went live on May twentieth, twenty nine, at thirty-seven minutes past two at night.