AHMEDABAD, Aug 31 � BJP MLA Maya Kodnani, a former Minister in Narendra Modi Government, was today awarded 28 years imprisonment by a Special Court which also gave a life term to a Bajrang Dal leader till death in the Naroda Patiya massacre�the worst of 2002 post-Godhra riots � in which 97 people were killed, reports PTI.
Of the 29 other convicts, seven were given a jail term of 21 years by an Additional Principal Judge Jyotsna Yagnik. Like 57-year-old Kodnani, they will also have to first serve 10-year imprisonment under Section 326 IPC (voluntary causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means).
The remaining 22 convicts were given simple life imprisonment (14 years) by the court which described communal violence as �cancer� on Constitutional secularism.
The Court named Kodnani as �a kingpin of riots� in Naroda area and sentenced her to 18-year life imprisonment after serving 10 years jail term under IPC Section 326.
55-year-old Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, the other high profile accused, will have to spend his entire remaining life behind bars, it said.
Kodnani, a three-time MLA from Naroda area who was considered to be close to Modi, is the first woman to be convicted in a post-Godhra riots case.
�Communal riots are like cancer on Constitutional secularism and the incident in Naroda Patiya was a black chapter in the history of the Indian Constitution,� the Judge observed.
Kodnani and Bajrangi were on Wednesday held guilty under IPC sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) and the prosecution sought the maximum punishment of death sentence for all the convicts.
Social activist Teesta Setalvad, who has taken up the case of the post-Godhra riots victims in Gujarat, said they are �completely satisfied� with the manner in which the court has given �exemplary punishment�.
�It is the first time that a politician�s involvement in communal violence has been recognised,� she said.
The Court had on Wednesday convicted 32 and acquitted 29 persons in the Naroda Patiya case in the aftermath of the Godhra train carnage. It did not pronounce sentence against one accused who is absconding.