In a judgement of far reaching consequence, the Supreme Court today quashed the acquittal of all 21 accused in the Best Bakery case and said that faulty investigation was carried out by the Gujarat police prima facie with a motive to help the accused and directed its retrial in a Maharashtra court on a "day to day basis" and directed the Gujarat Government to appoint a new Public Prosecutor.
A Bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat in a 69-page judgement noted that right from the beginning, the stand of the key witness Zahira Shaikh was that the investigating agency was trying to help the accused persons and so was the public prosecutor.
Justice Pasayat, writing for the Bench, observed:
"If the investigation was faulty, it was not the fault of the victims or the witnesses. If the same was done in a manner with the object of helping the accused persons as it appears to be apparent from what has transpired so far, it was additional ground just and reasonable
Highlights
The Court said Justice is depicted to be blind-folded so that it does not see the parties before it but the blind-fold should not prohibit the Court from the facts before it.
Modern day ’Neros’
When Gujarat was engulfed with communal riots in the aftermath of the burning of Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002, a mob set fire to Best Bakery at Vadodara on March 1 resulting in the death of 14 persons. Zaheera, an eye-witness to the incident, had lost many of her family in the brutal carnage.
Lambasting the Gujarat Government for its laxity in bringing the guilty to book, the apex Court said:
"The modern day ’Neros’ were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and helpless women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be protected."
The Court, while directing the Gujarat Government to appoint a new Public Prosecutor, directed the Director General of Police to oversee further probe and ordered the trial be conducted on a day-to-day basis.
Justice Pasayat, writing for the Bench, directed the Governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra to give adequate protection to witnesses and victims "so that they can depose freely without any apprehension of threat or coercion from any person".
On appointment of a new public prosecutor, the Court again set a precedent by asking the Gujarat Government to consult victims and witnesses before choosing an advocate. Justice Pasayat said:
"Though witnesses or victims do not have any choice in the normal course to have a say in the matter of appointment of a Public Prosecutor, in view of the unusual factors notices in this case, to accord such liberties to the complainants party, would be appropriate."
Holding that free and fair trial of the case was still not possible in Gujarat, the Bench said "keeping in view the peculiar circumstances of the case and the ample evidence on record, glaringly demonstrating subversion of justice delivery system with no congenial and conducive atmosphere still prevailing, we direct that retrial shall be done by a Court under the jurisdiction of Bombay High Court.
’Worse than terrorists’
Justice Pasayat went on to say,
"When ghastly killings take place in the land of Mahatma Gandhi, it raises a very pertinent question as to whether some people have become so bankrupt in their ideology that they have deviated from everything which was so dear to him."
Justice Pasayat, also added that when a large number of people, including innocent and helpless children and women, were killed in a diabolical manner, it is disgraceful for the entire society:
"No religion teaches violence and cruelty-based religion is no religion at all, but a mere cloak to usurp power by fanning ill-feelings and playing on feelings aroused thereby. The golden thread passing through every religion is love and compassion. The fanatics who spread violence in the name of religion are worse than terrorists and more dangerous than an alien enemy."
Brief History
14 people were burnt alive at the Best Bakery in March, 2002 in what has come to be known as post-Godhra violence. A fast track court had earlier heard the arguments in the case. Out of 120 witnesses named, 73 deposed and 41, including Zaheera Sheikh, and her entire surviving family, refused to identify the accused or identified them as their "actual saviours". On June 26 last year, all 21 accused were let off by the court. Zaheera Shaikh, one of the key witnesses and the complainant, had hit the headlines after first turning hostile and later surfacing in Bombay to tell a press-conference that she had turned hostile under pressure. She had named a BJP MLA, Madhu Srivastava and his cousin, Chandrakant, a Congress councilor, among those who had threatened her.
NHRC had sent a special team to Vadodara, and Zaheera, after changing her statement several times, had said that she was ready to tell the truth if there was a re-trial, preferably outside Gujarat. This had made the NHRC approach the court on July 31, asking them to hear the case again.
On September 12, 2003, the Supreme Court had severely chastised the Gujarat government, asking it to "quit if you cannot prosecute the guilty".? The Gujarat government had then approached the High Court to reopen the case which upheld the decision of the fast track court, in December last year. It was then that Zaheera had herself approached the Supreme Court asking for a retrial.
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