File photo of Maya Kodnani
Maya Kodnani, a former minister in the Gujarat government who has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for the riots of 2002, was granted bail today on medical grounds.
However, the Special Investigating Team appointed by the Supreme Court to prosecute the case, says it will appeal tomorrow to the Supreme Court to cancel Ms Kodnani's bail.
The former BJP legislator is undergoing treatment at the Ahmedabad civil hospital for acute depression.
Ms Kodnani, 60, was arrested in March 2009 after being convicted along with 30 others for the Naroda Patia riots, the bloodiest episode of the three-day communal violence that tore through Gujarat in 2002 during Narenda Modi's first term as chief minister.
She served as the minister for women and child development from 2007 to March 2009 when she was forced to resign after she was first arrested.
Witnesses told investigators that Ms Kodnani, a gynaecologist, played a leading role in the massacre of 95 people - 30 men, 32 women and 33 children - in Naroda Patiya.
Ms Kodnani says she is battling depression and tuberculosis. She had been granted temporary bail in February but was denied an extension.