Gujarat HC rejects bail plea, Kodnani resigns, surrenders

Ahmedabad, Mar 27 (PTI) In a huge embarrassment to the
BJP ahead of the elections, the Gujarat High Court Friday
rejected the anticipatory bail plea of absconding minister
Maya Kodnani holding that "religious fanatics are no better
than terrorists".

Shortly after Justice D H Vaghela pronounced his order
Kodnani, Child Welfare Minister in the Narendra Modi ministry,
resigned and surrenderd before the Special Investigating Team
(SIT) which took her and the co-accused Jaidip Patel, a senior
VHP leader, into custody.

Holding that the presence of Kodanani and Vishwa Hindu
Parishad leader Patel at the scene of offence is prima facie
established from the evidence produced by the SIT, the judge
said, "communal harmony is the hallmark of democracy and
religious fanatics are no better than the terrorists".

Kodnani, 53, is accused of leading armed rioters in
the post-Godhra violence against Muslims in Naroda-Patiya and
Naroda Gaam localities on the city's outskirts that had
claimed over 100 lives. She has denied her role.

She has been absconding ever since she filed the
anticipatory bail plea in January after the SIT, constituted
by the Supreme Court, zeroed in on her for her alleged role in
the riots.

The court developments came as a huge embarrassment to
the party on a day when L K Advani was here to address a rally
in Maninagar, Modi's assembly constituency that comes under
Gandhinagar Lok Sabha represdented by the BJP veteran. (MORE)
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