Maya Surendrakumar Kodnani is a former

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for Women and Child Development in the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

. Kodnani joined the 12th legislative assembly of Gujarat after being elected to represent the constituency of Naroda as a candidate for the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. In 2012, Kodnani was sentenced to twenty-eight years' imprisonment for her participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the

2002 Gujarat riots The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Godhra train burning, burning of a train in Godhra on 27 Fe ...

but acquitted in 2018 by the Gujarat High Court. Kodnani was one of the most high-profile individuals to be convicted in the case, as well being the only woman among the accused.

Early life

Kodnani is the daughter of a Sindhi

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

(RSS) worker who moved to India during the Indian Partition. She had her early education in a Gujarati-medium school. She also joined Rashtra Sevika Samiti, the parallel organisation of RSS for women. Kodnani joined the Baroda Medical College from where she did her

MBBS A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

and Diploma in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. She set up Shivam Maternity Hospital at Kubernagar in Naroda,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Political career

Kodnani began her political career with Ahmedabad civic elections in 1995. She was elected three times from the Naroda constituency as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

for the BJP. In 1998, she won the election with a margin of 75,000 votes. In December 2002, shortly after

, she won by a margin of 110,000 votes. In 2007, her margin increased 180,000 votes. After winning the elections in 2007, she was named as Minister for Women and Child Development of Gujarat in

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

's BJP government, but resigned from the post in 2009 pending her arrest as accused for the Naroda Patiya massacre.

Role in the 2002 Gujarat riots

Kodnani was convicted of orchestrating the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya massacres of the 2002 Gujarat riots on 28 February 2002, in which 97 Muslims, including 36 women and 35 children, were murdered by stabbing, dismemberment and being burned alive individually as well as in groups. Witnesses testified that Kodnani was at the scene of the crimes, handed out swords to Hindu rioters, exhorted them to attack Muslims and at one point fired a pistol''.'' Bajrang Dal members Suresh Richard and Prakash Rathod told

Tehelka ''Tehelka'' () is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and another colleague ...

's journalists on spy camera that Kodnani drove around Naroda all day, urging the mob to hunt Muslims down and kill them. Mobile phone records also placed her at the scene and showed her to be in regular communication with the top police officials, the Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia and the Chief Minister's office. The mobile phone records were buried by the police and brought to light by the Nanavati-Mehta Commission in 2004. They were later investigated by R. K. Raghavan-led Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

in 2008. Kodnani ignored notices for deposition by the SIT, which declared her an absconder in February 2009. She obtained an anticipatory bail from a sessions court, which was revoked by the Gujarat High Court on 27 March 2009, leading to her subsequent arrest. She was tried in the Naroda Patiya massacre case and, on 31 August 2012, convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison. The court judgement called her the "kingpin of the Naroda Patiya massacre." Kodnani continued to maintain her innocence, claiming that she was at the Sola Civil Hospital at the time of the riots, meeting the relatives of Godhra victims. On 17 April 2013, the Gujarat government filed an appeal in the High Court seeking the death penalty for Kodnani but withdrew it on 14 May. In November 2013, she was granted an interim bail of three months for treatment of intestinal

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. On 30 July 2014, Gujarat High Court granted bail to her on grounds of ill health and suspended her prison sentence. On 20 April 2018, the High Court overturned the trial court's findings and acquitted Maya Kodnani, while upholding the conviction of Suresh Richard and Prakash Rathod.

Personal life

Maya Kodnani is married to Surendra Kodnani, who is a general physician.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodnani, Maya Living people Indian Sindhi people 2002 Gujarat riots Indian politicians convicted of crimes Women members of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly Rashtra Sevika Samiti members 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Gujarat 1956 births Gujarat MLAs 1998–2002 Gujarat MLAs 2002–2007 Gujarat MLAs 2007–2012 People acquitted of murder Indian people convicted of murder Hindu nationalists Hinduism-motivated violence in India