Judge hearing Naroda Gam riot case transferred to Valsad

Judge Dave’s first order in the case was on February 5, 2018 wherein he had issued notices to two prosecution witnesses, including former IPS officer and now advocate Rahul Sharma, subject to an application moved by the accused in the riot cases, seeking arraignment of the witnesses as accused in the case.

Naroda Gam is the only of the nine riot cases that were placed under the Supreme Court supervision, which is pending verdict. Eleven people had been killed in massacre at Naroda Gam on February 28, 2002 in the reprisal killings that followed the Godhra train burning.

A public prosecutor concerned with the matter said that no notification has been issued yet on who will take over the trial. Once a notification is issued, the final arguments are expected to be submitted from scratch, said the public prosecutor.

In July 2018, the SC had announced that it would no longer monitor the cases, and had directed the SIT appointed by it, to take the cases to their logical end, while granting the special court time till October 16, 2018, to complete the trial. This did not happen and while the victims could have filed an application at the SC, seeking the apex court’s supervision, that too did not happen. The Gujarat HC notification listed the transfer of 17 other judges as well. Judge SK Baxi is scheduled to take charge as principal judge of city civil court of Ahmedabad.