The Gujarat government has refused permission to the Supreme Court-appointed SIT to file an appeal in a higher court seeking death penalty for former minister Maya Kodnani in the Naroda Patiya riot case.
This was decided on the basis of advocate-general Kamal Trivedi’s opinion that there was “no direct evidence” against her.
Kodnani and Bajrang Dal activist Babu Bajrangi, along with 30 others, were convicted for life in the 2002 post-Godhra Naroda Patiya riot case, in which 96 people were killed. “State legal department... has taken a decision not to file an appeal against the court’s order and not to seek death penalty for Maya Kodnani,” SIT special prosecutor said.