Hostile witnesses, a discredited, callous and colluding administration, dark despair, anger, rage. And then when all seems lost, hope comes from judiciary, as nine accused are sentenced to life imprisonment in the Best Bakery case. <a href=pti_covera
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.
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.
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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With agency inputs