Babubhai Patel, known by his alias Babu Bajrangi, is a leader of the

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

-wing of the

Bajrang Dal The Bajrang Dal () is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was foun ...

, a Hindu right wing organization in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. He was a central figure during the

2002 Gujarat violence The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hin ...

. He was sentenced to life term imprisonment by a special court for his role in masterminding the

Naroda Patiya massacre The Naroda Patiya massacre took place on 28 February 2002 at Naroda, in Ahmedabad, India, during the 2002 Gujarat riots. 97 Muslims were killed by a mob of approximately 5,000 people, organised by the Bajrang Dal, a wing of the Vishva Hindu P ...

in which 97 Muslims were murdered including 36 women, 26 men and 35 children. The

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

granted him bail on medical grounds in March 2019.

Role in 2002 riots

In 2007, the Indian journal ''

Tehelka ''Tehelka'' (Hindi: Sensation) 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 a ...

'' published a hidden-camera interview with Bajrangi, in which Bajrangi speaks candidly of his role in the violence against Indian Muslims in the

, a particularly intense episode of brutality during the 2002 Gujarat riots: In the video, Bajrangi claimed that after the killings, he called the home minister Gordhan Zadaphia and the VHP General Secretary Jaideep Patel, and told them about the killings. After a few hours, an FIR was lodged against him, and the police commissioner issued orders to shoot him at sight. He was later arrested, and released on bail. He was out on bail at the time of the Tehelka interview. He also claimed

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

changed judges three times to ensure that he was released from jail, as the first two judges wanted to sentence Bajrangi to hanging for his heinous crimes. In 2012, he was convicted in the Naroda Patiya massacre case along with

Maya Kodnani Maya Surendrakumar Kodnani is a former Minister of State for Women and Child Development in the Government of Gujarat. Kodnani joined the 12th legislative assembly of Gujarat after being elected to represent the constituency of Naroda as a ca ...

and thirty other accused. All thirty-two of the accused were found guilty of "murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy, spreading enmity and communal hatred and unlawful assembly". On 31 August 2012, Bajrangi was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

. However, he continues to be out of jail on bail. As of 2016, Bajrangi had been granted temporary bail 14 times on the pretext of his wife's and his own poor health. After claiming to have developed partial blindness and deafness, Bajrangi was given an attendant (bodyguard) in Sabarmati Central Jail. On 7 March 2019, the Supreme Court of India also granted bail to Babu Bajrangi, after the Gujarat government informed the Supreme Court, in reply to a bail plea that Bajrangi had filed last year, that he was “in bad shape”. The state told the court that Bajrangi has allegedly suffered complete vision loss, besides various other ailments.

Other activities

Babu Bajrangi also runs a trust called ''Navchetan trust'', which as per his claims saves the girls who run out of their home and marry outside their community. In a report of the ''Frontline'' magazine it was claimed that his organisation use intimidation and violence to forcibly end the marriages done outside the community. As per this reports and his claims he had "saved" more than 700 girls from such inter caste marriages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bajrangi, Babu Living people Gujarat politicians 2002 Gujarat riots Hindutva Bajrang Dal members Year of birth missing (living people) Indian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Indian people convicted of murder Hindu nationalists Hinduism-motivated violence in India