Sabrang Alternative News Network

She told reporters here she had approached a non-governmental organisation-- Citizens for Justice and Peace -- for help to file a petition in a higher court for a fresh trial outside the state.

Zahira alleged "local MLA Madhu Shrivastava and Vadodara Congress corporator Chandrakant Shrivastava used to threaten me over mobile phone".

She alleged she and her family had to undergo "pressures" for not identifying in the court the accused who had killed 14 people including her father, Habibullah Shaikh, on March one, 2002, in post-Godhra riots.

Zahira alleged they had been threatened by the accused and therefore out of fear they had gone back on their statements.

Zahira`s demand for trial outside Gujarat assumes significance in the backdrop of the National Human Rights Commission terming the acquittal of 21 accused in the case as "miscarriage of justice" and suggesting that Gujarat High Court order re-opening of the case.

On June 27, a court in Vadodara had acquitted 21 accused in this case due to lack of evidence, mainly due to witnesses turning hostile. Even Zahira had supported the prosecution.

Twelve persons were burnt alive in the bakery when it was set ablaze during a bandh called by Bajrang Dal in March last year to protest the Godhra train carnage.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=109788&archisec=NAT&archisubsec=

Best Bakery Witness Demands Retrial; NHRC Team Reaches Varodara

The three member team of National Human Rights Commission will reach Varodara today to probe into the Best Bakery scandal. The team will carry out a second time investigation into the matter.

The Gujarat special court had issued a clean chit to the 21 accused in this case on June 27 in absence of adequate evidences. The NHRC has raised a severe objection to this decision of the court. However, a case of contempt of court has been registered against the statement of the commission.

14 people working in this factory were burnt alive during the Gujarat riots. Earlier, some people had identified the accused. However, they denied their statements in the last phase of the hearing.

A three member squad will probe into the case under the chairmanship of the Supreme Court's former Chief Justice A. S. Anand. The records, statements of witnesses and the court's decision related to the case will be examined during the reinvestigation. The team encompasses Law Registrar Ajit Bharioke, DIG Sudhir Chowdhary, and NHRC member for Gujarat P. G. Namboodari.

The main witness of Best Bakery scandal Zahira Shiekh stated that in a situation where even the government lawyers were forced to give up the struggle under pressure, she could not face opposition all alone. Earlier, Zahira's mother had put a similar allegation while speaking to Sahara Samay. Zahira has alleged BJP MLA Madhu Srivastava of giving her a death threat. She has demanded for a retrial in the case but under the condition that the investigations are carried outside Gujarat. She stated that she is being continuously pressurized to change her statement. She even alleged the people have chosen to remain mute in connection with the case.

Zahira is in Mumbai these days but her whereabouts are unknown. The Gujarat BJP spokesperson Jayanti Bhai Baroat has refuted Zahira's statement. He said there was no reason to believe Zahira's statements as she has already changed her statements thrice in the court.

http://www.saharasamay.com/article.asp?news_id=6894

Best Bakery case

MUMBAI/ GANDHINAGAR, July 7. — Zahira Shaikh, a key witness who turned hostile in the Best Bakery massacre case, today demanded that the trial be held outside Gujarat, and alleged that a BJP MLA from Vadodara was threatening her, a charge denied by the legislator. She told reporters in Mumbai that she had approached an NGO for help to file a petition in a higher court for a fresh trial outside the state. “Ms Madhu Shrivastava, an MLA from Vadodara, used to threaten me over the mobile phone,” Zahira alleged. — SNS & PTI
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=17220

Best Bakery victim in city for Justice
By: Teesta Setalvad
July 8, 2003

I first met Zahira Habibullah Shaikh on March 9 last year, then again on March 22 when she deposed before Justice J S Verma of the National Human Rights Commission and then on May 11, 2002, when she voiced helplessness before the Concerned Citizens Tribunal.

Her voice trembling with the emotions of that fateful night, when she witnessed her sister Sabira burnt alive and her maternal uncle Kauser Ali cut to pieces before he was consigned to flames, did not waver in the details of what she had seen.

A total of 14 persons were hacked and burnt that night in an attack that lasted 12 hours. She wanted justice. She went to every forum in the city of Vadodara, and even in the country, to seek it.

Finally, on May 17, 2003, during her hour-long testimony before the additional sessions court judge, she retracted some of what she sent.

The first thought that crossed my mind when I read of her retraction was despair — despair at the process of justice in a country that we call the world’s largest democracy.

In the weeks before her testimony, her older brother had been summoned and had deposed before the court. Her family was facing severe threats and intimidation.

The state public prosecutor in the Best Bakery carnage, who is meant, constitutionally, to appear on behalf of the victim, did not meet or brief her even once.

The proceedings of the trial court that day, packed to the hilt with the accused and others of the mob who had attacked this sole Muslim enterprise in Hanuman Tekri area, was hostile and full of intimidation.

Direct threats were meted out to her even within the precincts of the courtroom, and nothing in the behaviour of the judge or the public prosecutor was conducive to her standing up to her repeated testimony.

She denied knowledge of the accused, and three days later, went away to her home village in faraway Uttar Pradesh.

Yesterday, when she told the country at a press conference organised by the Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai, that she wants to demand a re-trial, and has faith in any court outside Gujarat, natural questions about her strong, fearless testimony over seven months and her inexplicable (to some) retraction in a court of law do get raised.

When, however, a key witness to a soulless carnage, that not only claimed 12 innocent lives but show-cased the Vadodara police and state administration in shame for partisan behaviour and criminal negligence, comes back before the public to demand a re-trial on grounds of intimidation, where ought to the real questions lie?

Can there ever be justice without rehabilitation? Can there be reconciliation without justice? Are agents of the state, be they public prosecutors or any other, above the pale of the Indian Constitution?

Zahira and her entire family have turned to Mumbai through some of its citizens for support, succour and courage. Rehabilitation will be here and the struggle for justice too will be from here.

As a Mumbaikar I feel convinced in my bones that this generous city that lost its soul for weeks and months in 1992-1993 will redeem it now for such innocent victims of the Gujarat carnage.

The writer is the editor of Communalism Combat

Case history

* On March 1, 2002, in the violence following the Godhra massacre, 12 people were burnt alive in BEST bakery at Dabhoi Road, Vadodara, by a 15,000-strong mob. The victims were bakery workers and their families, including children.

* Six people were injured. Two people — Kausar Shaikh and Lula Haroon Shaikh — went missing. Families of the injured and dead are yet to receive compensation.

* Zahira Shaikh, the main complainant, turned hostile on May 17. She told the court that she hadn’t seen anything and went missing.

* On June 21, the 44-day trial concluded. 39 of the 73 witnesses had turned hostile.

* On June 27, Justice H U Mahida ordered immediate release of all the accused citing lack of evidence.

* On July 6, Zahira’s mother Saharunissa said, ‘‘I lied before the court out of fear and constant threats to life.’’

* The National Commission of Human Rights is now planning to meet Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley and demand a re-trial on grounds of intimid

World Briefing: Asia

INDIA:MUSLIM REPORTS THREATS

A Muslim woman who recanted her testimony that Hindu neighbors burned members of her family said threats from Hindu nationalist politicians in Gujarat caused her and her family to change their testimony, an allegation denied by those accused. The woman, Zahira Sheikh, 20, was the key witness in a trial of 21 Hindus accused of burning 14 people alive in March 2002 during riots that killed 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. After the recantations, all 21 were acquitted. Hari Kumar (NYT) http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/08/international/asia/08BRIE4.html

Witness Zahira: Hold trial outside Gujarat
- By Our Correspondent

Mumbai, July 7: The Best Bakery carnage case of March 1, 2002 in Baroda may take a new twist with prime complainant Zahira Sheikh now demanding that the trial be reopened in the Mumbai high court, or at least held outside Gujarat.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, she named BJP leader Madhukar Srivastava as the principal accused and has said that she will be able to tell the truth if the trial is held afresh outside the state of Gujarat.

"We want to reopen the trial to get justice," she said at the press conference. "In Gujarat I met lawyers and social workers but they demanded money to the tune of Rs 4 lakhs to support me. I come from a poor family and cannot afford such an amount. As a result I was neglected by the so-called helpers in Gujarat." She said she had been threatened by BJP leader Madhukar Srivastava outside the premises of the Gujarat court. "He threatened to kill me if I named him and his accomplices in the court. What would you do if the police, the lawyers and the judiciary are all with the accused? Whatever I said before the court was false as I was under tremendous pressure. I did not want to go against the accused as my family was in danger."

Zahira Sheikh, 19, one of the victims on the night of March 1, 2002, is being supported by Mumbai-based NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace. This organisation will file a petition in the Gujarat high court on behalf of her and others urging the court to direct that a retrial in the Best Bakery case be held outside Gujarat in view of the extreme political pressures in that state. Over a week ago, the additional sessions judge in Baroda had acquitted all the accused named by Zahira Sheikh, the key witness in the case.

Ms Sheikh said that she had also been threatened by another Congress leader, Chandrakant Bhakt, who told her that her attempts to get justice would fail as "everyone is corrupt and even the judiciary had been purchased by the accused." Recalling the incident of March 1, 2002, she said, "An anti-Muslim mob surrounded the Best Bakery and set it on fire. My family and I were on the first floor of the bakery and the rioters kept throwing petrol to burn us."

She said that she had named Jayanti, Mahesh, Munna, Thakkar and others as accused in her statement to the police, but had retracted it after being threatened by Madhukar Srivastava.

The Best Bakery carnage was among 18 such incidents that occurred within a period of 12 hours on March 1, 2002. This incident itself resulted in 14 people being burnt to death. These incidents were a result of the failure of the state administration to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

The press conference was attended by the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace Teesta Setalvad, theatre personality Alyque Padamsee, columnist Anil Dharker, lyricist Javed Akhtar and the editor of Communalism Combat Javed Anand.

Ms Setalvad said, "It’s the darker side of our system that even the state public prosecutor, who is supposed to meet the victims, did not meet Ms Sheikh or her family. Ms Sheikh is the prime complainant in this case and the public prosecutor should have listened to her statement. But he never bothered to meet her."
http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&cat1=1&cat2=22&newsid=60353&RF=DefaultMain

What I said in court wasn't true: witness

By Kalpana Sharma

MUMBAI JULY 7. In a dramatic reversal of her court testimony, Zahira Habibullah Shaikh, the 19-year-old girl who survived the night of March 1, 2003, when a mob attacked and killed 14 persons in Best Bakery, Vadodara in Gujarat, said today: "What I said in court was not true. I said it after pressure was put on me. In fact, I recognise all those who attacked us that night".

Her testimony to the contrary before the fast track court in Vadodara had led to the acquittal of all the 21 accused on June 27.

Ms. Shaikh told a press conference convened by the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) here that she had asked the group to reopen her case and have it retried. Although she had testified to the National Human Rights Commission and many other groups last year about what happened on March 1, 2003, and she and the surviving members of her family had given more than half-a-dozen statements to police, when she appeared in the courtroom of the Sessions Judge H. U. Mahida on May 17 and was asked whether she recognised any of the accused, she said she did not.

`Threatened'

Asked why she had changed her stance now, Ms. Shaikh said, "I was accused of taking money. I could not stand being maligned. I want to reopen the case because we didn't get justice." She narrated how, ever since she received the summons from the Special Court, she had been threatened on her mobile phone and told that if she testified, her family would be killed and she would be killed on her way to court. She said that a BJP MLA was behind her when she entered the courtroom and alleged that he too had threatened her.

Ms. Shaikh said she had asked a number of local lawyers to help her but all of them demanded money, some as much as Rs. 4 lakhs. "No one was supporting us. In Gujarat, everyone is theirs, they want to suppress our case, they are all with them," she said, referring to the people she has accused. Advocate Mihir Desai said that the CJP had decided to take up the case and was considering a number of different strategies. "The judiciary is one institution in which there is still some faith. We want to exploit that," he said. The group, which has extended financial support to Ms. Shaikh and her family and ensured that they do not need to return to Vadodara, would not appeal against the Mahida judgment. Instead it would ask for a new trial ideally outside Gujarat. Even if it took place in Gujarat, they would ask for a Special Public Prosecutor.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003070806860100.htm

GUJARAT RIOTS: GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER

Now daughter breaks the ‘fearful’ silence

Says BJP MLA, his Cong cousin threatened them, asks for a re-trial outside state

Ayesha Khan

Mumbai, July 7: Just days after her mother came out and told The Indian Express that she had lied in court ‘‘trembling with fear,’’ in the Best Bakery case, Zaheera Sheikh alleged that a BJP MLA and a Congress councillor were among those who threatened them to change their testimony. And she was ready to tell the truth if there was a re-trial, preferably outside Gujarat.

When contacted, BJP’s Madhu Shrivastava and his cousin Chandrakant Shrivastava both denied the charges (see box).

But Madhu Shrivastava, a regular fixture in the trial was the one who accompanied Zaheera to the court on the day of her testimony. He is on record as saying that he welcomed the acquittal verdict claiming that the wrong people were framed.

Zaheera’s statement comes as a team from the National Human Rights Commission is scheduled to reach Vadodara tomorrow. NHRC chief Justice A S Anand had called the Best Bakery verdict a ‘‘miscarriage of justice.’’

Zaheera, 19, had gone into hiding after she turned hostile during the case proceedings in a fast-track court in Vadodara which acquitted all the 21 accused. Fourteen people were killed in the Best Bakery massacre, nine of them were the Sheikhs’ relatives.

After The Indian Express story, Zaheera was moved to Mumbai by the Citizens for Justice and Peace, a local social activist group. Also present were her mother and her two brothers.

Hours before she addressed the press, flanked by the group’s members, Zaheera told The Indian Express: ‘‘Amma sab sahi boli hain, hum tab dar gaye the, magar ab sachh bolenge, ab to saath bhi mil gaya hai, aur hum saath hain (My mother has spoken the truth, we were frightened then. Now we will speak the truth, now we have got the support).’’

When asked about allegations that she received money, she said: ‘‘I can’t bear such an accusation. Everyone says that we took money.’’

Zaheera has come a long way from her days more than a year ago in Vadodara where she had waged a lone battle from Day One of the riots: trying to get medical support for the family on March 2, as the wounded and dead were being brought to Vadodara’s SSG Hospital from Best Bakery.

And thereafter it has been depositions before numerous commissions, changing houses and finally moving to the one built in Ektanagar by the riot relief committee.

Now that they are in Mumbai, both mother and daughter say they feel safer. Said Sehrunissa: ‘‘I got very scared once I spoke out but here I feel safer.’’

BOX

‘I don’t know who Zaheera is’

• BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastava: ‘‘I don’t know who Zaheera is. This is an attempt by some Congress leaders to damage me politically, an attempt by anti-Gujaratis to tarnish the state image.’’

• Chandrakant Shrivastava, Madhu’s cousin and Vadodara Congress councillor: ‘‘I don’t know who Zaheera is. I only know I rescued a Muslim family. I have never spoken to the family. Nor did they approach me.’’

• Gujarat Cong spokesman Arvind Sanghvi: Declined comment. ‘‘The PCC won’t react if a Congressman from a distant place is named by someone.’’

• Himanshu Vyas, Cong in-charge of Vadodara: ‘‘The party will inquire and take action if the allegations are proved correct.’’

Massacre witness in retrial cry- Zahira says she turned hostile under BJP leader’s pressure

ANAND SOONDAS

Mumbai, July 7: Zahira Sheikh, who retracted her initial statement in court and turned the Best Bakery massacre case upside down, has announced that she will appeal for a retrial, though not in Gujarat.

“I don’t trust anything, anybody there, and I am too scared to go there now. Our lives are in danger,” Zahira said here today, flanked by ad guru Alyque Padamsee and lyricist Javed Akhtar.

On March 1 last year, 12 Muslims and two Hindus were burnt to death at the Vadodara bakery her father owned. The massacre — two days after the torching of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, the flashpoint of the riots — forced the 19-year-old to go into hiding along with the surviving members of her family.

Today, Zahira broke her silence on the political pressure put on her to turn hostile in court. She publicly blamed Madhu Srivastava, the BJP MLA from Hanuman Tekri in Vadodara, for threatening her.

“Madhu Srivastava asked me to lie in court,” she said. “There were threats all the time, those who called repeatedly told us that my mother, too, would be killed if I didn’t go back on my statement to the police. I didn’t want any more of my people to die. There was no way I could have told the truth in court.”

The bakery case, the first of many concerning mostly Muslim victims of the Gujarat riots, fell on its face after a fast track court in Vadodara recently ruled in favour of the 21 accused. The court, in a very defensive statement, had said there was no evidence to call for action against the accused.

The acquittal came after Zahira — the main witness — refused to identify the 21 accused. Of the 73 witnesses, 39 had turned hostile following Zahira. Instead of the accused, the witnesses blamed police for lodging “false cases against those who saved the lives of many Muslims”.

But Zahira, whose case will now also be fought by the Citizens for Justice and Peace, an NGO formed after the Gujarat riots, contradicted her statement all over again. “The 21 accused are the same ones who had killed all those people in the bakery,” she said.

Asked if the police, as alleged by many witnesses, had picked up the wrong persons, she said: “No, they are the ones. If the case comes for retrial, I will identify each one of them.”

More than anything, it was humanity that Zahira seemed to have lost faith in. “Even my own people (Muslims) didn’t stand up for us, we were completely alone,” she said. “There were threats from everywhere but when we approached Muslim lawyers to fight for us, they asked for Rs 4 lakh.” She added that she had to rely on a government prosecutor who asked her just one question at the fag end of the trial: “Do you want to recognise any of the accused in court?”

Zahira and her mother’s arrival in Mumbai — they will not be available to the media from now on — has put paid to the National Human Rights Commission’s attempts to seek a fresh deposition from them tomorrow. A team from the rights panel is already in Ahmedabad.

“I will send a statement from here,” Zahira said. “Anyway, nothing happened earlier when the commission took our statements.”

The Best Bakery case has become a rallying point for some of Mumbai’s most well-known personalities. “We are here to extend our support and help in the family’s rehabilitation,” Padamsee said. “We cannot keep quiet any longer. What will happen if those who have promised to protect turn persecutors. We have to get more people to voice our dissent against what is happening.”

Maintaining that the entire edifice of democracy will crumble if no one can provide justice, Akhtar said: “It is obvious that there have been no serious attempts at meting out justice to those who suffered in the riots. It is time we stood up to get counted.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030708/asp/frontpage/story_2143480.asp

Best Bakery case

Bakery case’s witness alleges intimidation

MUMBAI, July 7 (IANS)

A key witness to communal violence in Gujarat on Monday claimed she was intimidated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders to retract her testimony in a crucial case. Zahira Sheikh, whose relatives were among 14 people killed when a mob burnt down the Best Bakery in Vadodara last year, was speaking at the Press Club here.

Sheikh, 19, initially blamed some people for setting fire to the bakery during police investigations. Later, she made a different statement before the special court hearing the Best Bakery case, leading to the acquittal of 21 people.

Sheikh told reporters she wanted a retrial of the case outside Gujarat as she was under constant threat from the accused. She did not provide details of the BJP and VHP leaders who had allegedly intimidated her. She approached the Mumbai-based Citizensa for Justice and Peace and the group said it was examining various legal options, including a plea before the Supreme Court. Sheikh, who arrived in Mumbai Monday is planning to meet NHRC members.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july08/i4.asp

Best Bakery witness for retrial, in Mumbai

HT Correspondent
(Mumbai/Ahmedabad, July 7)

Key witness in the Best Bakery case Zahira Sheikh and her mother Seherunnisa have demanded a retrial of the case outside Gujarat, preferably in Mumbai.

At a press conference the two held in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, they said they had turned hostile in the fast-track court in Vadodara during the trial because they had been threatened by BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastava and others.

Zahira and her mother (the only survivors in the fire that burned down their family business — the Best Bakery in Vadodara — and killed 14 relatives and employees in the post-Godhra riots) said they would never get justice in Gujarat as the public prosecutor, the police and politicians were all protecting the accused who owed allegiance to the ruling BJP.

Zahira and her mother were accompanied at the press conference by Javed Akhtar, Teesta Setalvad, Mihir Desai, Anil Dharker and other members of an NGO, the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), which has announced free legal assistance to Zahira and other victims of the communal riots in Gujarat.

A Vadodara court had recently acquitted all 21 accused, some of them BJP and VHP members, for lack of evidence when Zahira, a key witness in the case, had retracted her statements and 'failed' to identify the culprits in court. While announcing the acquittal, the court had censured the police for inadequate investigation and poor evidence-gathering.

But on Monday, 19-year-old Zahira had gathered enough courage to admit that she had been threatened. "I am too scared to return to Gujarat and want to stay in Mumbai. I want the case to be re-opened and re-tried in Mumbai. The authorities in Vadodara are all hand-in-glove and I don't see justice being done to my family," she said.

Even people from her own Muslim community had not wanted to help her when it came to testifying in court. "Some of them even demanded Rs 4 lakh from my family for legal expenses and they wanted a share of our riot relief. Apart from this, my family and I were constantly pressured by the accused to retract our statements in the court. Since we did not get any help and were under threat, I chose not to recognise the accused," Zahira admitted.

The CJP has said it will take up Zahira's cause and ensure the case reaches its logical conclusion.

Meanwhile, a two-member National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team is here in an effort to re-open the Best Bakery case. The team will visit Vadodara on Tuesday to examine the records of the court proceedings and to try meeting the victims' families and witnesses in the case.

However, the state government has not yet reacted to either the judgement or the NHRC's visit. A senior official told HT that the government had not yet finalised its stand on the issue. "We are still studying the judgement," he said.

Zahira wants justice. Too much to ask?

NOW: ‘I want a retrial’

Zahira now wants the case to be retried in Mumbai. The authorities in Gujarat are in cahoots, she says

Then: ‘I chose not to recognise the accused’

Under threat, and with no help from her own people, she says she had no option

NEXT: ‘We’ll ensure the case reaches the logical end’

NGO CJP says it will take up Zahira’s cause. It might move the Supreme Court

POSSIBILITIES: ‘Retrial is possible, but rare’

CJP says such a retrial is theoretically and constitutionally valid. The SC has the powers to do it
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/080703/detFRO01.shtml

Best Bakery complainant breaks silence

BHARAT DESAI
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

AHMEDABAD: Zahira Sheikh, the complaint in the Best Bakery massacre case who turned hostile in the court leading to the acquittal of all the 21 accused, has finally broken her silence. The dimunitive girl, who emerged after weeks of absence from Gujarat to address the media in Mumbai on Monday, later told TNN over phone that she would like to have a retrial of the case and that too outside Gujarat.

Zahira was accompanied by Teesta Setalwad of Citizens for Justice and Peace at the press conference held on the eve of the NHRC team's visit to Vadodara to examine the case papers in the case. The young girl, whose deposition in the case turned the legal battle upside down, said it was only out of fear that she did not pick up the courage to identify the killers before the court.

Explaining that she had left for Basti in Uttar Pradesh after the court hearing, she said she had come back to "clear my name from allegations that I had taken money to turn hostile in the court". She said she was being threatened by the local BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastava, Vadodara councillor Chandrakant Shrivastava alias Bhattu and another witness Lal Mohammed that they would "kill her family".

She said "I would not have given up the fight if a single person from my community had stood by me in that crisis, but even the members of the relief committee ditched me when I needed them the most". “Main akeli ladki kahan kis kis se ladti (how could a single girl like me fought al those people)", she said.

Zahira said Lal Mohammed, the witness who told the court that the accused had in fact saved the Muslim families from the mob on the day of the massacre on March 1 last year, was a close associate of the Shrivastava's and had been constantly giving out threats to her. "I was so scared that when I stood up in the court, I could not tell the truth, I also saw a lot of Bajrang Dal people in the court on that day and that scared me even more".

She said she did not have faith in the police, lawyers, government or the courts of Gujarat and wanted the trial to be reopened in Mumbai where she now has the support of some independent groups. "Main to badnami ka daag dhone ke liye bahar aayi hun kyonki maine kisise paisa nahin liya hai, aur ab mera dar bhi door ho gaya hai"(I have come out to clear my name from allegations that I have taken money to change my stand, and I am now not afraid anymore), she said.

Zahira said she does not plan to return to Gujarat anymore and would like to continue her battle in Mumbai. However, Teesta Setalwad, told TNN over phone that various legal options were being examined in the case, including the possibility of having a retrial outside Gujarat. "We are not calling for an appeal in the case because that would suggest that we have accepted the evidence before the court when the world knows that that evidence was all bogus and manipulated, we want a reopening of the case and a retrial outside Gujarat so that nobody can influence the process of justice".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=64361

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jul/07best.htm

Report

Zehraunissa wants Best Bakery case reopened in Mumbai

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai | July 07, 2003 21:30 IST

Zehraunissa Shaikh, 19, the key eyewitness in the Best Bakery murder case in Vadodara, on Monday said she will reopen the case against all the accused in the Mumbai high court.

The move comes soon after the Gujarat sessions court acquitted 21 people, who were accused in the rioting and killing of 12 people inside the bakery on March 1, 2002.

During the trial, 35 of the 60 witnesses, including Zehraunissa, retracted statements they had made to police identifying the accused in the court.

Following the retraction, Additional Sessions Judge Hemantsinh U Mahida acquitted all the accused citing lack of evidence.

"I was threatened by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Madhu Shrivastava. He told me that if I say the truth in the court my mother and other family members would be killed. So, I lied in the court because of fear and these accused were set off free," Zehraunissa told the press in Mumbai

"I want justice. There was no one in Vadodra to fight my case. The lawyer's were demanding Rs 400,000 from me to fight the case in Vadodra and I had no money to pay. Moreover, Shrivastava used to call me regularly over the phone and threatened me. He also told me that everyone in the court are his men and nobody will believe me. And therefore under pressure I lied," she said.

Her case has been taken by a Non Governmental Organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace. The NGO has people like Javed Akhtar, the noted lyricist, adman Alque Padamese and Teesta Setalvad, joint editor of Communalism Combat.

"Zehra has lost her family members and the criminals are roaming freely. Nobody has been booked under Prevention of Terrorism Act. The whole attitude of the Narendra Modi government is so cynical. It is shocking to see that this is happening in a civilised society," said Javed Akhtar.

Zehra, her mother, Sehrunissa and two brothers, Naeemullah and Nafeesullah, have moved base to Mumbai.

Asked if they feel the justice would be done to Zehra's family considering that Srikrishna Commission report was never implemented in Maharashtra and most of the riots accused in Mumbai riots of 1992-93 were roaming free, Teesta said, "We have to be hopeful. We have great faith in judiciary. Moreover, unlike Mumbai the situation is so bad in Gujarat that two communities are completely alienated from each other."

NHRC team report on Best Bakery case in a week

By Manas Dasgupta

VADODARA July 8. A three-member fact-finding team of the National Human Rights Commission is expected to submit its report on the controversial Best Bakery riot case to the chairman within a week.

The team, which arrived here this morning from Ahmedabad to study the documents related to the case, was mobbed by delegations making contradictory representations, human rights activists demanding a reopening of the case and the relatives of the accused calling for honouring the judgment of the fast track court.

Talking to presspersons, the NHRC registrar and team leader, Ajit Bharihoke, said the team had come to Gujarat to collect "facts" and that it would submit its report "within a week".

A terse "no comment" was his reply to a question whether he favoured re-opening the case or why the NHRC did not intervene when witnesses were turning hostile during the trial in the fast track court.

During his stay in the city, the team called on the district judge, J.C. Upadhyaya, the Police Commissioner, Sudhir Sinha, and talked to the police officers who investigated the case as well as the Government pleader accused of playing a "partisan role" during the trial. A delegation of the People's Union of Civil Liberties, supporting the stand of the main complainant, Zahira Sheikh, urged the NHRC to reopen the case in a court outside Gujarat for a fair trial.

The residents of Hanuman Tekri, where the bakery was located, most of whom were relatives of the accused, alleged that all the 21 accused had been "wrongly implicated" in the case and demanded that the NHRC and the Government honour the verdict of the fast track court. Incidentally, all the accused, after acquittal, are said to have disappeared.

A delegation of lawyers, who had formed a "Jan Raksha Samiti", took exception to the NHRC's fresh inquiry into the case. Its convener, Avdhoot Suman, said that if the NHRC was keen on reopening the case, it should reopen many such cases since 1950, which were also criticised to be "miscarriage of justice".

Pointing out that it could set a wrong precedent, he said the court verdicts were given on the evidences and witnesses presented before it and not on any extraneous issues.

Some local Muslim leaders also submitted a memorandum to the team demanding the immediate arrest of Madhu Srivastava, BJP MLA from neighbouring Waghodia, and his brother and Congress member of the Vadodara municipal corporation, Chandrakant Srivastava, and the owner of a garage opposite the bakery, Lal Mohammad — who was also a key witness but like Zahira he turned hostile, and some others.

Both the Srivastava brothers, whose respective constituencies include the Hanuman Tekri locality, however, have denied the charges against them. Claiming that he had no role in the case and that did not "escort" Zahira Sheikh the day she was give her testimony in the fast track court, Mr. Madhu Srivastava said he was being "unnecessarily maligned" and promised to move the Supreme Court to clear his name.

Mr. Chandrakant Srivastava, accused of providing "shelter" to the "now underground accused", claimed that instead of helping the accused, he was trying to ensure justice to the victims. He claimed that he was the first to report the fire in the bakery to the police and helped many of the members of the minority community escape. The BJP State Government, which has taken a dim view of the NHRC fact-finding mission, is yet to make up its mind on appealing to the higher court against the fast track court's judgment.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003070905651100.htm

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

Look who new Gujarat govt lawyer is
He wanted Justice A S Anand tried for contempt

Syed Khalique Ahmed

Vadodara, July 8: The state government today appointed as public pleader an advocate who wants the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman tried for contempt of court for calling the Best Bakery massacre case a ‘‘miscarriage of justice.’’

NHRC chairman A S Anand had described the case so a few days after all suspects in the case were acquitted by the fast-track court of judge H U Mahida on June 27.

Advocate Avadhoot Suman and others had then submitted an application to Mahida, saying Anand’s comment amounted to an insult of the judge’s honour and dignity and was an attempt to undermine the judiciary. They urged Mahida to move Gujarat High Court to have the contemner punished.

On Monday, Additional Sessions Judge C K Solanki — officiating in the fast-track court for Mahida, who is on leave — rejected the application, saying it was not correct.

Suman was appointed pleader on Tuesday, along with Jayanti Prajapati and Alpaben Shah.

Although interviews for the post were held weeks before Anand’s statement and Suman’s reaction, some lawyers regard his appointment as a reward for speaking out against the commission, which has been critical of the government’s failure to swiftly control the post-Godhra riots.

Says Kirit Bhatt, a human-rights activist, ‘‘Suman is a very competent, intelligent lawyer and a man of high integrity. But if the appointment has come as a follow-up to his petition against the NHRC chairman, it is nothing less than mockery of the administration of justice.’’

When contacted, Suman said that calling this a ‘‘reward’’ smacks of ‘‘a mean mentality.’’

He said he had applied for the post in February and attended the interview in May — well before his controversial application to Mahida. He pointed out that the two other advocates appointed pleader with him hadn’t commented against the commission.

Law Minister Ashok Bhatt said Suman’s appointment was on merit and that it was ‘‘totally wrong’’ to call it a reward for criticising Anand.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=27273

NHRC must be pro-active in Gujarat

H. S. Phoolka

The publicity given to the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC’s) decision to send a team to study the Best Bakery case rings false. Something that is a routine matter is being projected as a great initiative. In fact, the acquittals in this case is a glaring instance of the NHRC’s failure to protect human rights.

Under the Act that created it — Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 — the NHRC is empowered to “intervene in any proceedings involving any allegation of violation of human rights pending before a Court with the approval of such Court”. In exercise of this mandate, it should have appointed its own advocate in every case of this kind. Its advocates should have overseen proceedings so that the prosecution does not fail in its duties of ensuring punishment to the guilty. More so since the initial NHRC report on these riots criticised the government. It is true, of course, that conviction in cases involving mob violence is negligible and that is the main reason why it continues to recur in India.

The two basic reasons for the guilty going unpunished are, obviously, dishonest police investigations and the political clout mobsters enjoy. By and large, mob violence takes place in collusion with the police and politicians. We have grappled with the issue for decades. It is in this context that the NHRC’s role becomes crucial — it needs to emerge from its “decorative” stance and play a far more pro-active role.

The NHRC has the power to inquire into the role played by any police officer. If it finds that the police, in the course of a riot, favoured any one group, or colluded with rioters, it has the power to recommend to the government action against such officers.

If the government doesn’t take action, the NHRC has the power to approach the concerned high court or Supreme Court to direct the government to initiate action. It also has the power to inquire into the role played by political leaders in such violence.

In Gujarat, it is still not too late. The NHRC can even now appoint its own advocates in cases pending in various courts in Gujarat to ensure that the matter is properly handled. If its advocate had been involved in the Best Bakery case, it could at least have ensured that all the witnesses cited by the prosecution were examined. If the state government fails to file an appeal now, the NHRC should file one against the judgement given its overweighing public interest. If the state government does file an appeal, it should get its advocate to intervene before the high court and ensure that the judgement is set aside and the matter referred for further investigation. Since the crimes here were against society as a whole, the approach should be to secure justice for society, as well as victims. By approaching the case only in terms of ensuring justice for the victims, the police and courts are shifting the whole burden on the victim to prove the guilt of the accused. This, after all, is the duty of the state. The failure of the victim to identify the guilty is actually the failure of the police and the judicial system to punish the guilty. It is astonishing how, in this case, the police and politicians have abdicated their responsibility.

The fast track courts in Gujarat set up to try cases of communal violence, may ultimately turn out to a big handicap, as was the case in the 1984 carnage. The trials in the latter instance didn’t make much progress until the V.P. Singh government came in power in 1989.

At that point, I along with Justice R.S. Narula, former chief justice of the High Court and General J.S. Aurora, met then home minister, Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, to demand that Special Courts be constituted. The minister suggested that since this is an elaborate process, we should agree to exclusive courts — which meant that one judge would be assigned only these cases in each of the three criminal courts in Delhi— the Tis Hazari, Patiala House and Karkadooma courts. Initially, it seemed a big success. J.B. Goel, ASJ at Tis Hazari, passed conviction orders in two cases. Unfortunately he was transferred — whether this was a routine occurrence or done at someone’s behest is anybody’s guess. The judge at Patiala House, S.S. Bal, kept passing acquittal orders. During the period of the Rao government, things were so manipulated that the Tis Hazari and Karkadooma Courts were also given to Bal. Human rights lawyer Vrinda Grover analysed 126 judgements pertaining to 1984. It showed that out of 126 cases, 80 were delivered by S.S. Bal and all 80 had resulted in acquittals!

Gujarat too could witness similar attempts at manipulation. That is why it’s crucial that an agency like the NHRC play its appointed role.

The writer, a senior advocate, has been closely involved with the 1984 riot cases

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=27222

NHRC team came, didn’t see, didn’t do anything

Express News Service

Ahmedabad, July 7: BIG on hype, small on action. That summed up the first day of the two-member National Human Rights Commission team’s visit to the State. With the visit coming after sudden twists and turns in the Best Bakery case — the acquittal of all the 21 accused as well as the surfacing of the main-witness-who-turned-hostile Zaheera Sheikh in Mumbai — all eyes were on the duo who arrived in Ahmedabad on Monday morning.

The two NHRC members — Ajit Bharioke, Registrar of Law and Sudhir Chowdhary, Deputy Inspector General (Investigations) — spent the entire day cocooned in the Circuit House Annexee and apart from meeting NHRC’s special rapporteur for the State P G J Nampoothri met no other official.

The NHRC had on July 3 stated that keeping in view the seriousness of the issue involved in the order of the acquittal in the Best Bakery case, the Commission ‘‘considers it appropriate’’ to immediately depute a team to Vadodara to inspect the records of the case, examine the judgment and all the other relevant materials.

The reason that the NHRC had deputed the team to the State seemed to have been forgotten. They did go out in the afternoon to meet in-charge Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court J N Bhatt for 10 minutes. But apart from that, their only other trip out was for a spot of lunch. The national as well as local media, cellphones to their ears, pads and mikes in hand, followed the team and even waited at the State Guest House, but to no avail. No one got either a quote or a bite — the team chose to stay silent.

However, later speaking to Express Newsline over the telephone, Nampoothri said apart from paying a courtesy visit to the Chief Justice, the team did not meet any officials or authorities during the day. ‘‘I meet the two members and only chalked out the agenda for our visit to Vadodara tomorrow,’’ he said.

When asked whether they would be conducting any hearings at Vadodara, he said, ‘‘Nothing of that sort has been planned as of now.’’ Nampoothri said that though it was yet undecided, the team’s visit to Vadodara will most probably be only for a day. He refused to reveal anything further about the team’s visit to Vadodara.

State Home Secretary K Nityanandam confirmed that he had not meet the NHRC team and that he was also not scheduled to meet them.

However, in anticipation of the team’s visit to Vadodara, several riot victims and leaders of the minority community waited in Vadodara to meet the NHRC team.

‘‘Members of the Islamic Relief Committee waited in Vadodara hoping the team would arrive but later they came to know the team will only go to vadodara on Tuesday,’’ Dr Shakeel Ahmed said. ‘‘I don’t think they will accept any representations or suggestions so we want to wait and watch what they will do,’’ Dr Ahmed said.

At the Ahmedabad Circuit House although there was hype regarding the team’s visit, none of the victims or representatives of relief organisations came to meet the team.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=57078

Massacre fury singes rights panel

ANAND SOONDAS

Vadodara, July 8: “Why were they quiet all this while? Did they have to wait for Zahira to tell them that Muslim riot victims were being denied justice?” asked Hasan Nurulbhai, a Vadodara resident, on a day the National Human Rights Commission arrived to probe the Best Bakery acquittals.

Yesterday, Zahira Sheikh, the main witness, revealed how she was forced to turn hostile in court, leading to the acquittal of all 21 accused of killing 14 people in the bakery on March 1 last year.

“What do you want us to say?” Zahira’s neighbour in Ekta Nagar asked, clearly not expecting anything out of the NHRC probe. “It is difficult to trust anyone these days.”

A man who gave his name only as Zakir said: “Muslims in Gujarat and throughout the country were waiting for the verdict in the bakery case. We were very disappointed, especially when Zahira turned hostile. But now that she says she is telling the truth, why can’t there be a retrial? That is not too much to ask for, is it?’’

But the NHRC would not promise that it would ask for one. After a day of collecting documents from the police commissioner’s office, the district sessions court and sundry organisations, the commission’s team was non-committal about its future course. “We cannot say if we will ask the government to reopen the case,” said Ajit Bharioke, one of the members. The NHRC chairman, A.S. Anand, had described the June 27 acquittals as a “miscarriage of justice”.

A clutch of organisations that have little relevance to the case met the NHRC team — the Vadodara Janadhikar Samiti, fighting to uphold “the rule of law and sanctity of the courts”; the Citizens for Justice and Peace, protesting the absence of rule of law; the Gujarat Janhit Rakshak Samiti, fighting for “Gujarat’s pride to be restored” which it believes can be achieved by driving away the NHRC and burying the case; and the Anjuman-e-Bahami Relief Committee, trying hard to prove that Muslims did help Zahira.

Zahira, who said she would seek retrial, will not see the NHRC. “I spoke to them before, nothing happened.”

The families of the accused did meet the commission, only to show their contempt for it. A 250-strong mob of relatives marched from Hanuman Tekri — where the Best Bakery once stood — for the meeting.

Jaswantbhai Gohil, six of whose family members were acquitted, said: “The commission should just go back. All these 21 people were innocent, this is a travesty of justice.”

Accusing NHRC of bias for probing a case that the court had buried, Ishwarsinh Parmar said: “Even Muslims at Hanuman Tekri know that the boys were framed by the police to show that the government was also taking action against Hindus. How can the NHRC make fun of the court’s judgment saying it is incorrect?”

But an advocate closely involved in the case said: “One has just to scratch the surface to get a different version of almost everything that has been said in court.”

In the atmosphere of mistrust that rules Gujarat, where no one seems to have any credibility — not the police, not the courts and not the NHRC — Zahira’s neighbour pleaded for justice.

Affirming that some of the accused were killers, she said: “Kuch to kaide kanoon hote hain desh mein, agar court bhi nyay nahi dega to hum kahan jayenge? (There has to be rule of law in the country. If even the court cannot give us justice, where do we go?)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030709/asp/nation/story_2146532.asp

Ghost of Godhra again

Statesman News Service
VADODARA, July 8. — The Godhra ghost has risen again to haunt the Modi government. With the visit of a team from the National Human Rights Commission “to collect relevant documents of police and court records of the Best Bakery case”, the focus here today was the court verdict and the acquittal of the 21 accused.

Mr Madhu Shrivastava, the three times BJP MLA from Vaghadiya, in the eye of the storm for allegedly “threatening” the main witnesses— though today he flatly denied it— said, “ all this is being done to defame the Modi government and is instigated by the Congress or some organisations”. He said that he had seen Ms Zaheera Sheikh, daughter of the owner of the bakery and one of the main witnesses “only in a burkha”. “I will resign from politics in case anyone can prove that I pressurised any of the witnesses.”

Mr Shrivastava wanted to know why Ms Zaheera Sheikh had changed her statement “seven to eight times”, and “whether she was under pressure now, or was she under pressure earlier.”
On the other hand, Jamiyate- Ulama Baroda, has demanded that the Best Bakery case be “re-opened” and “Pota may be applied on the accused of this case”. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Baroda, has raised a similar demand and sought that the case by “further investigated by a neutral and competent agency like the CBI”.

Mr Avadhoot Sumant from the Vadodara Jan Adhikari Samiti said that more that 40 lawyers have signed a petition asking the fast track judge, Justice Mr HU Mahida, “to refer the matter to the High Court for initiating proceedings of contempt against the NHRC”. He said the comments of the NHRC chairman, Justice Mr AS Anand, clearly lowers the image of the court in public. The three-member team of the NHRC, consisting Mr Ajit Bharioke, Mr Sudhir Chaudhary and Mr PGJ Nampoothiri, said they had collected the police and the court records and will submit a report to the commission within a week. The records run into thousands of pages, the press was informed.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=17277

Only one witness meets NHRC team
- By Our Correspondent

Baroda, July 8: It was just another day for the residents of Hanuman Tekri even as the National Human Rights Commission paid its much-hyped visit to Baroda.

While situation was charged at the government circuit house in Alkapuri area NHRC visit hardly made any difference to the residents of Hanuman Tekri and Ekta Nagar where Zahira Sheikh and her mother and brothers are presently staying.

Against the expectations none of the witnesses, except Lal Mohammed, met the commission members.

In fact the residents of Hanuman Tekri and Ekta Nagar claimed that had the commission members come to meet them they would have given their statements.

However, it was an important day for the BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastava and his cousin brother Chandrakant Shrivastava, who were camping at circuit house from Tuesday morning. Mr Madhu Shrivastava was busy clarifying his stand on the allegations made by Zahira Sheikh.

Mahendra Jadhav, who is one of the 21 persons acquitted by the court in the case, was not afraid of NHRC visit. Jadhav, who resides near Best Bakery in Hanuman Tekri area, said, "I am not afraid of anyone now. I have paid the price for the crime I never committed. The police arrested me because of mistaken identity. In fact, it was my brother who first rang up the police control room to inform about the incident. But after a month of the incident the police came and picked me up from my residence instead of arresting the accused whose name is also Mahendra."

He added, "had the NHRC officials come to Hanuman Tekri I would have told them how I have been pushed behind the bars for no reasons."

Jadhav has now re-started his vehicle-repairing workshop. "Now I am not bothered about what will happen. People are talking about re-opening of the case but I am not worried because I have not committed any crime."

Vinod Pandey, Jadhav’s friend, said, "Those who are talking of injustice were given any chance in the court but they lied in the court, which is sin. Now, people will not believe them because of their image." The NHRC’s visit however was normal for every resident of Hanuman Tekri.

Sana Baria residing opposite to the Best Bakery had left from his house to avoid the team. "He was here till Monday evening but someone informed that some senior officers from Delhi will come to Best Bakery and he immediately left his residence. Now he will come back only after a month or so," said a neighbour of Baria.

Sadiq Hussain another resident of Ekta Nagar where Zahira and her family members are staying said, "None of us feel like meeting any officers now. We will speak to them if they come here because we know our opinion will not make any difference."

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?layout=2&cat1=5&cat2=154&newsid=60518&RF=DefaultMain

The battle begins

While the reopening of the Best Bakery case can be seen as a vindication of the power of the media, the real battle begins now. On test from now on will be the resolve of the civil society in general and certain institutions in particular, who now have to ensure that the boldness shown by Ms Zaheera and her mother, in seeking justice against heavy odds, does not go waste. Powerful politicians and even the Gujarat government as such managed to create a situation where a clear-cut case of an organised and well-planned attack on the bakery during the post-Godhra violence was thrown out of the court, on the plea of insufficient evidence. As graphically pointed out by the media and substantially corroborated by the victims now, those at the r