The Long Arm Of The Law

After days of dark despair, heightened in particular bythe shocking acquittal of all accused in the Jessica Lal muder case, it was aday for some much-needed restoration of at least some hope, ek chhoti siiaasha. And it came from the unlikely and unexpected developments inthe Best Bakery case, which too had suffered primarily from the eye-witnessesturning hostile.

This was the case that had come to symbolise the sheer horrors of Gujaratpost-Godhra, a case in which all the accused had earlier been acquitted, a casewhere the Supreme Court had felt it necessary to step in on April 12, 2004, and,in an unprecedented move, had moved the case outside Gujarat by asking a Mumbai court to conduct the retrial so that the accused were given a fair trial and the witnesses deposed without any fear.

While ordering retrial, the apex court had quashed the lower court order acquitting the 21people. Four of them were untraceable and 17 were arrested and brought to Mumbai forretrial on charges of rioting and murdering 14 persons who had taken refuge in the Best Bakery on Hanuman Tekdi at Vadodara on March 1, 2002, during thepost-Godhra riots.

Finally, Nine persons were sentenced to life imprisonmenttoday by a sessions court in Mumbai which also issued notices to prime witness Zaheera Shaikh and her family members for tendering false evidence.The verdict was delivered by judge Abhay Thipsay, who, in addition to life imprisonment, awarded jail terms to the convicts ranging from one year to ten years on various counts under the IPC,including rioting, unlawful assembly for causing grievous hurt, voluntarily causing hurt and being part of an unlawful assembly armed with explosives.

These one to ten year sentences would run concurrently. After serving these terms, the convicts will undergo their life term, the judge ruled.

The prosecution examined about 75 witnesses in the trial which lasted for more than a year.Of the 75 witnesses, ZaheeraSheikh and her family members had turned hostile. Others include Zaheera's motherSahrunissa, sister Saherabanu, brothers Nafitullah and Nasibullah who did not support the prosecution saying they had not seen the accused torching the bakery.

However, Zaheera's estranged sister-in-law Yasminbanu supported the prosecution's case and narrated the incident before identifying the accused in the court.

The defence lawyers led by Adik Shirodkar took the plea that Yasminbanu was at her parent's house when the Best Bakery incident occurred. To counter thedefence, the prosecution produced a video film showing Zaheera and others, includingYasminbanu, being rescued by police.

The defence questioned the authenticity of the video film and said it was fabricated.The defence lawyers also claimed that the identification of the accused by witnesses was faulty as they were called by nick names in the police statement of witnesses whereas in the court they were identified by their full names.

The court has issued notices to Zaheera Sheikh, her mother Sehrunissa, two brothers Nasibullah and Nafitullah and sister Sahira, who had turned hostile asking them to show cause why they should not be prosecuted for perjury (giving false evidence). They have been asked to reply by March 20.Earlier, Zaheera, 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.

The judge said he was not awarding capital punishment to the accused because it could not be ascertained during the trial what their specific roleswere in the crime. The notices are made returnable on March 20.

Those convicted are Rajubhai Dhamirbhai Baria, Pankaj Virendragir Gosai, Bahadursinh Chauhan alias Jitu, Jagdish Chunilal Rajput, Dinesh Fulchand Rajbhar, Shanabhai Chimanbhai Baria, Shailesh Anupbhai Tadvi, Suresh alias Lalo Devjibhai Vasava and Sanjay Thakker.

The court has acquitted Yogesh alias Painter Laxmansinh Varma, Harish alias Tino Virendragir Gosai, Mahendra alias Langado, Pratapsinh Solanki, Yasin Alibhai Khokar, Tulsi Bhikabhai Tadvi, Kamlesh Bhikabhai Tadvi and RaviChauhan.

All the convicts were also convicted for rioting (Sentence: 2 years RI, Rs1,000 fine, additional one month RI if fine not paid), being member of unlawfulassembly (sentence: 6 months RI, fine of Rs 500, additional 15 days RI if notpaid), causing simple hurt (RI for 3 years, fine of Rs 1000, additional onemonth RI if not paid), disobedience of order promulgated by public servant(imprisonment for one month).

Pankaj Gosai, Sanjay Thakkar, Bahadursinh Chauhan, Dinesh Rajbhar and SureshVasava were convicted for causing mischief using fire or explosive substance (RIfor 7 years, fine of Rs 5,000, additional RI for 5 months if not paid), forcausing mischief by fire/explosive substance with intention to destroy house(life imprisonment, fine of Rs 10,000, additional RI for 10 months if not paid),for committing dacoity (RI for 10 years, fine of Rs 500, and 15 day additionalRI if not paid), for committing house-trespass with intention to commit offencepunishable with death (RI for 10 years, Rs 500 fine, additional 15 days RI ifnot paid).

Pankaj Gosai, Sanjay Thakkar, Bahadursing Chauhan, Dinesh Rajbhar and SureshVasava were also convicted for committing house tresspass with intention ofcommitting offence punishable with life imprisonment (RI for 10 years, Rs 500fine, 15 days additional RI if not paid).

Sanjay Thakkar, Bahadursing Chauhan, Suresh Vasava, Dinesh Rajbhar andShanabhai Baria were also convicted for joining unlawful assembly armed withdeadly weapon (RI for 2 years, fine of Rs 500 and additional 15 days RI if notpaid) and for rioting armed with deadly weapon (RI for 3 years, fine of Rs 1000,additional RI for one month if not paid).

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Meanwhile, in the wake of public outrage over acquittalof all the nine accused in the JessicaLall murder case, the Delhi High Court asked Delhi Police chief K K Paulto furnish details of the case before it.

Taking suo motu cognizance of news reports about shoddy handling of the case, aDivision Bench of Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Rekha Sharma asked thePolice Commissioner to file a status report of the case within four weeks.

The High Court's order comes in the midst of all round criticism of the trialcourt verdict and the media outrage over the Delhi Police's handling of the casethat led to the acquittal of all the accused, including Manu Sharma, son of aHaryana Minister and Vikas Yadav, son of a UP politician.

There have been demands for a retrial in the case like the one ordered inconnection with the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. In a similarly unexpecteddevelopment, in a move that could have political ramifications for the LaluPrasad Yadav-led RJD, the NDA government in Bihar announced institution of ajudicial commission to probe afresh the Bhagalpurcommunal riot cases of 1989 which left over 1000, mostly Muslims, dead.