The Naroda Patiya massacre took place on February 28, 2002, in the aftermath of the Godhra train carnage

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday granted bail to and suspended the sentence of Maya Kodnani, former minister accused in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riots case.

A division bench of Justices VM Sahai and RP Dholaria granted a condition bail to Ms. Kodnani on the grounds of her ill health and merits of the case.

The court considered the medical certificate of Ms. Kodnani, which said that she was suffering from a serious illness and not responding to treatment. The bench also observed that there were certain “contradictions and improvements” in the statements of witnesses who had implicated her in the case.

The Naroda Patiya massacre took place on February 28, 2002, as part of the overall riots in Gujarat in the aftermath of the Sabarmati Express train burning incident. Over 90 people were killed and several people were injured in the incident. A special investigation team (SIT) court had convicted and sentenced Ms. Kodnani to 28 years imprisonment in August 2012.