Worst Case Scenario

The comments of the Gujarat High Court Judgment on the Best Bakery case have negated the process of justiceby ridiculing those seeking justice, something perhaps unprecedented in the history of Independent India.

If there was any hesitancy about the justification for demanding trial of such cases outside Gujarat, thenthis judgment ought to remove the last vestige of any such doubts. We knew it is not possible to get justicefrom the Government and the Police in Gujarat. Now this judgment has cast an indelible shadow on Gujarat’scriminal justice system too in no uncertain terms.

At no stage has the verdict shown any concern or regret, let alone compassion, on the heinous crime that wasBest Bakery. Neither was there any sympathy shown to the victims of this most brutal of all crimes.

Instead of condemning this unfortunate state of affairs, the Hon’ble Court has chosen to transgress thelimits of judicial propriety and fairness by coming down heavily on those very activists - holding the causeof justice at heart - as "anti-social and anti-national". Any right-minded person or group wouldhave lauded these activists for their enormous sense of duty as fellow human beings and for acting so nobly atgreat risk to themselves.

The Court had, further, nothing to say about the questionable judgment of the lower court, which apart frombeing a travesty of justice had contained gratuitous remarks on issues of no relevance. The High Court verdictis found to be totally unconcerned about its primary task at hand, that is, the delivery of justice to victimsof the Best Bakery tragedy.

An obvious effort to play to the gallery was the most unwarranted and uncalled for remarks on those displacedand uprooted seeking justice in the Narmada dam issue. These remarks were out of context and speak of adeliberate effort to deviate from the task at hand, namely rendering justice to the victims of the macabre andgory incident that was Best Bakery.

Comments from the Judgement

Some extracts from the judgement need no commentary from us but some explanation from the Court may berequired and from those who think that this judgment is a fine piece of jurisprudence (numbers indicate Paranumbers from the judgment. The grammar and language are from the original.):

"7…. There seems to be a definite design and conspiracy to malign the people by misusing this witnessZahirabibi, who is hardly 19 years old. She can easily fall in prey of anyone and play in the dirty hands ofantisocial and anti-national elements…

"15…. It appears that an attempt is made by the journalists/human rights activists and advocate Teesta Setalvadand Mihir Desai respectively of the Citizens for Justice and Peace to have parallel investigating agencywhereas the statutory authority is investigating any case is Police, CBI or any other agency established underthe statute. We do not know how far it is proper. But we can certainly state that it is not permissible underthe law…."

"21…Certain elements failed elsewhere, at all levels, and to obstruct the development and progress of theState, are trying to misuse the process of the law, so far they have not fully succeeded. Some time back inthe name of environment, matter was filed before the Apex Court in Narmada matter, which was dismissed by theApex Court. However, because of ex-parte and interim order, they were successful in causing huge loss, runninginto thousands of crores of rupees to the State because of the delay in the construction of the dam.Ultimately, such huge losses had to be suffered by the people of the State for no fault of theirs. Gujarat isvery much part and parcel of our Nation and any loss to the State means loss to the Nation.

Once again, almost similar attempt is made not only to cause indirect financial loss to the State but tocreate rift between the two communities and spread hatred in the people of the State. Financial loss can berecovered at any time but it is very difficult to rebuild the confidence, faith and harmony between people ofthe two communities. This times none else but the judiciary of the State and the system as a whole, which isreally a matter of grave concern. Most unfortunate part it is that, some people within the State and theNation, without realising the pros and cons of it, unnecessarily giving undue importance to such elements, whoare misusing poor persons like Zahira and others….

….. It is most unfortunate that attempt is made to create a false impression not only in the other statesbut also in the world that the Gujarat is a terrorist state, which is factually wrong…

…. It would be much better if wise people of both the communities sit together, think it in a propermanner, and work out in the right direction a plan, so that, in future, such riots do not take place. Perhaps,Lok Adalat, may be the best medium to solve such problems forever. It will not be out of context to state thatone of us (B.J.Shethna, J.) witnessed the settlement of almost similar problem at Surat in a Lok Adalat heldon 2.10.2003 on the birthday of the Father of our Nation, Shri Mahatma Gandhi…."

It is anybody’s guess what is the disposition of the judiciary of a secular country, which tries tosuggest that those who attacked and burnt Best Bakery could have saved some of them if they knew they wereHindus. The following quote is eloquent.

"35 …. When they were knowing that at least three Hindus working and staying in the Best Bakery and told themthat they were Hindus, then they would not have killed at least those three persons of their own community…."

The Hon’ble Court has taken to task those dedicated activists who were, and are, trying to ensurefairplay and justice, it however has nothing to say on the terribly partisan role-played by the Police and theGovernment of Gujarat. Also, it has acquitted those accused. Is it not then the duty of the Court now todirect the Police to find the real culprits? Again, instead of condemning the last eight pages of the uncalledfor comments from the trial court’s judgment at Vadodara, this judgment has added further such absurdcomments in what can be only termed as a distortion and perversion of the judicial process. The judgement ofthe trial court in Vadodara was received as a tragedy by those concerned with human rights and justice. ThisHigh Court’s judgment, it is regretted, has heightened the tragedy into a farce.

Kirit Bhatt, Dr. J. S. Bandukwala, Rohit Prajapati, Sohansingh Miglani, Trupti Shah, Chinu Srinivasan,Renu Khanna, Tapan Dasgupta, Deeptha Achar, Nandini Manjrekar, Johannes Manjrekar. (Human Rights Activists,Vadodara, Gujarat)