Gujarat convictions ‘a boost for Muslims’

(August 31, 2012) The conviction of a former state minister for her involvement in a massacre that took place during sectarian riots in 2002 in western India’s Gujarat state has come as a big boost for the Muslim community, which has been fighting for justice for years according to a Jesuit human rights activist. “This verdict is surely a welcome shot in the arm for the survivors of the Gujarat carnage and for the many others who have been relentlessly campaigning for truth and justice,” said Father Cedric Prakash, who heads a human rights centre in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city. Justice came on Thursday when a special court convicted Maya Kodnani, a former minister from the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with 31 other people for their role in what has become known as the Naroda-Patiya massacre. The event was one of many incidents during the 2002 sectarian violence, which claimed the lives of 790 Muslims. Violence flared when a Muslim mob set a train carrying Hindu pilgrims on fire on February 27, 2002. The next day, a Hindu mob went on the rampage in Naroda-Patiya in attacks on Muslims that resulted in the killing of 95 people. Kodnani was a legislator at the time of the massacre.