SC stays hearing of Kodnani's plea in Gujarat HC

New Delhi, April 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed, for two months, the hearing by the Gujarat High Court on former state minister Maya Kodnani's appeal against her conviction and sentencing in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu stayed the proceedings based on a report by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which had probed the post-Godhra riots cases.

The court order came after counsel Harish Salve, who is the amicus curiae in the Gujarat riot cases, apprised the bench of the SIT report and the Gujarat High Court segregating Kodnani's appeal from the rest of the accused who were also convicted for conspiracy in the massacre.

Kodnani, along with Bajrang Dal's Babu Bajrangi was convicted in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre that followed after the Godra massacre.

In August 2012, a special SIT court had sentenced her to 18 years life imprisonment.

IANS