Life imprisonment for 10 in Best Bakery case
by Sushil Pareek

     Mumbai: A Sessions Court here today convicted ten people and acquitted seven out of 21 for their involvement in the Best Bakery case during the 2002 Gujarat riots in Vadodra. The verdict, delivered by Judge Abhay Thipsay also ruled that witnesses in the case, Zaheera will face perjury charges. She has also been charged with a show-cause notice. Thipsay had conducted the retrial in the Best Bakery case on the orders of the Supreme Court. The 17 accused have been charged with burning alive 14 people, nine of whom were from the family of the key witness Zaheera Sheikh. Zaheera along with her family members had taken refuge in the Best Bakery on Hanuman Tekdi on March 1, 2002. The incident occurred during the Godhra riots.

     A total of 21 people were accused. Zaheera, the main eyewitness lost her family in the incident. Zaheera, the prime witness in the case, had moved the Supreme Court alleging that all the 21 accused in the case had been acquitted by the trial court in Gujarat as she had turned hostile because of threats issued to her. Giving a turn to the incident on November 3, 2002, Zaheera filed an affidavit before the Vadodara collector saying she was pressurised by NGO activist Teesta Setalvad to name innocent persons as accused before the special court in Mumbai conducting the re-trial. Zaheera had also denied meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Madhu Shrivastav, who, she alleged had threatened her from stating the truth before the Vadodara Fast Track Court. In another turnaround, she had also said that the judgment passed by the Fast Track Court Judge HU Mahida was correct. The apex court, on April 12, 2004, asked a Mumbai court to conduct the retrial so that the accused were given a fair trial outside Gujarat and the witnesses deposed without any fear. While ordering retrial, the apex court had nullified the order of the lower court which acquitted all the 21 accused. Four of them were untraceable and 17 were arrested and brought to Mumbai for retrial.

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