The Best Bakery case (also called the Tulsi Bakery case) was a
legal case
A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either civil or criminal law. In most legal cases there are one or mo ...
involving the burning down of the Best Bakery, a small outlet in the
Hanuman
Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...
Tekri area in
Vadodara
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...
,
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, on 1 March 2002. During the incident, a
Hindutvadi mob targeted the Sheikh family who ran the bakery and had taken refuge inside, resulting in the deaths of fourteen people
[Chronology of events in Best Bakery case]
24 February 2006. (11 Muslims including family members and 3 Hindu employees of the bakery
[Court raps Gujarat over riot case]
/ref>). This case has come to symbolize the carnage in 2002 Gujarat riots
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hin ...
that followed the Godhra train burning
The Godhra train burning occurred on the morning of 27 February 2002, in which 59 Hindu pilgrims and '' karsevaks'' returning from Ayodhya were killed in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station in the Indian ...
. All the 21 accused were acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
by the court due to shoddy police work and issues with evidence.[
]
Background
On 1 March 2002, communal frenzy enveloped Vadodara. The Best Bakery, a small outlet in the Hanuman Tekri area of Vadodara,[Best Bakery: Why it is so important]
/ref> was attacked by a mob, which burned down the bakery, killing 14 people.[Murder charges in Gujarat trial]
Wednesday, 22 September 2004. BBC This attack was part of the 2002 Gujarat riots. As per a televised interview by Zaheera Shaikh, one of the survivors who had witnessed the entire saga, a large mob surrounded the bakery in the evening, around 8 pm. They first stole all the goods that were kept in the bakery including sacks of flour. Thereafter they set fire to the bakery and the people inside, most of them Zaheera's relatives, shouting that ''no one should escape alive from it''.
Amnesty International reports that in many cases of the Gujarat violence, police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
recorded complaints in a ''defective'' manner, failed to collect witness
In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
es' statements
Statement or statements may refer to: Common uses
*Statement (computer science), the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language
*Statement (logic), declarative sentence that is either true or false
*Statement, a declarative ...
as well as corroborative evidence and did not investigate the responsibility of eminent suspects. The Best Bakery case was seen by human rights organization A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...
s in India as a test case given that what Amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
calls "strong evidence" against the accused existed,[India: Best Bakery case - concerns for justice]
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE but the victims gained little justice.[
]
Case in 2003 and acquittal
The case was tried at a fast court by the Vadodara sessions court judge Hemantsinh U Mahida. It lasted less than two months (9 May - 27 June 2003).
The case hinged on the first hand evidence presented in two FIR ( First information reports) that had been presented - that of Raizkhan Amin Mohammed Pathan and of Zaheera Sheikh. In addition, evidence was provided by a large number of witnesses whose evidence was secondary (indirect or hearsay).
The day after the attack, Zaheera Sheikh filed the first informant complaint.[ Sheikh, a 19-year-old during the incident, was a key and notable witness. She stated that she saw a large mob set fire to their bakery and saw them burn her family members to death. When the mob gathered, shouting communal ]slogans
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group. T ...
, her family fled to the terrace and some locked themselves in a first-floor room. The Sheikh family lived in a house directly above the bakery. The mob set the bakery on fire and killings continued from 6 pm to 10 am the next day, a period of sixteen hours. Her statements were recounted for many publications.[ However, as per documents presented to the court, Zaheera's FIR was registered by the Gujarat Police, police on 4 March 2002, leading the defence to oppose its use and the judge to suspect its validity and the possibility of it having been doctored by the police to implicate innocent people at the expense of the guilty ]perpetrators
In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U ...
. The defence purported that only the FIR that was registered on FIR of 1 March 2002 (by Raizkhan Amin Mohammed Pathan) should be admissible under Section 60 of the Indian Evidence Act
The Indian Evidence Act, originally passed in India by the Imperial Legislative Council in 1872, during the British Raj, contains a set of rules and allied issues governing admissibility of evidence in the Indian courts of law.
Importance
The ...
.
Further, in court on 23 March 2003, as many as 37 of the 73 witnesses, including Sheikh, turned hostile. It was later alleged by their former mentors that they had received threats
A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for co ...
to their lives, including from Madhu Shrivastav. Other witnesses gave garbled and self-contradictory witness account, strikingly at variance with the lucid, grammatical and logical written affidavits which had previously been filed in their name. The prosecution claimed that these witnesses had suffered head injuries and were not in a mental state to give an accurate account of their experiences, but could not explain the lucidity of the affidavits. The state government pointed to the lapses by the Gujarat Police
The ' is the law enforcement agency for the state of Gujarat in India. The Gujarat Police has its headquarters in Gandhinagar, the state capital, and Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat Police Department came into existence after Gujarat's separation fr ...
in "registering and recording of FIR" (First Information Report
__NOTOC__
A first information report (FIR) is a document prepared by police organisations in Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan when they receive information about the commissio ...
) and on the part of the prosecution in "recording of evidence" of witnesses in the Best Bakery case.
As a result of all these, the prosecution's case collapsed in court and all of the 21 accused were acquitted. The judgment was delivered on 27 June 2003 by additional sessions judge Hemantsinh U Mahida of the Vadodara fast track court.[Best Bakery Factfile]
The judgment said, "It was proved beyond doubt that a violent mob had attacked the bakery and killed 12 persons. However, there was no legally acceptable evidence to prove that any of the accused presented before the court had committed the crime." The judgment was critical of the police for delay in registering FIR and for not investigating the incident properly and harassing
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...
innocent people, including the accused.
Reactions
A large section of the press expressed outrage for a prolonged period at the acquittals. It was reported that key witnesses in the case had lied in court out of fear for their lives as they had been given death threats
A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...
. Key witnesses in the case include the wife and daughter of the bakery owner. They accused party politicians of threatening and harassing them into withdrawing their testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter.
Etymology
The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness.
...
. According to their testimony to the police and the National Human Rights Commission, 500 500 may refer to:
* 500 (number)
* 500 BC
* AD 500
Buildings and places
* 500 Boylston Street of Boston
* 500 Brickell in Miami
* 500 Capitol Mall in Sacramento
* 500 Fifth Avenue
* 500 Renaissance Center, one of seven buildings in the GM Renaiss ...
people had attacked the bakery. Amnesty International criticized the judgment as "the lack of government commitment to ensuring justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
to victims of the communal violence in Gujarat."[ India's National Human Rights Commission described it as a "miscarriage of justice" and, along with other petitioners, argued that the case should be investigated by an independent agency. The Supreme court expressed displeasure at the acquittal.
The ]Gujarat government
The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...
responded by pointing out many other cases where the guilty were left unpunished. Solicitor General Mukul Rohatgi
Mukul Rohatgi is an Indian lawyer and designated senior counsel, and was the 12th Attorney General for India. He was succeeded by K. K. Venugopal, whom he was also offered to succeed to hold the position again, but he declined. He had a tenure o ...
cited the anti-Sikh riots
The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Massacre, was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs ...
of 1984 and said many of the accused are still free.[
]
Re-trial and hostile witnesses
Soon after the sessions court judgement, Zaheera and her mother gave interviews to the media stating that they had lied in court. On 5 July 2003, Zaheera and her mother told ''The Sunday Express'' that Zaheera had lied in court because she had received death threats. On 7 July 2003, Zaheera told the media that Bhartiya Janta Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
(BJP) MLA Madhu Srivastava and his cousin, Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
councilor Chandrakant Srivastava were behind the threats, hence she sought a re-trial ''outside'' Gujarat. Due to this, media coverage and protests by several citizens groups, the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visited Vadodara on 8 July to examine documents related to the case. The NHRC moved a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court on 31 July 2003 asking for a retrial
A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...
outside Gujarat.
Aware of media outrage, three Supreme Court judges ordered the head of Gujarat police
The ' is the law enforcement agency for the state of Gujarat in India. The Gujarat Police has its headquarters in Gandhinagar, the state capital, and Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat Police Department came into existence after Gujarat's separation fr ...
and the chief secretary of Gujarat to appear before the court in order to explain their actions in the incident.[ Chief Justice VN Khare said he had "no confidence" in the ]Gujarat government
The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...
, while the Indian Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
criticized the government and ordered a retrial. The Supreme Court ordered that the retrial be moved out of Gujarat after accusing the state government of judicial
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
failures on 12 April 2004 in Maharashtra. The orders were passed by Justice Doraiswamy Raju
Doraiswamy Raju or D. Raju (born 2 July 1939) was an Indian Judge and former Justice of The Supreme Court of India.
Career
Raju was graduated in 1959 and obtained B.L. degree in Law in 1961 from the Madras University. In 1962 he was enrolled a ...
and Justice Arijit Pasayat.
On 24 September 2004, charges were framed by Judge Abhay Thipsay in Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
and the retrial began on 4 October 2004. During the first few weeks, the formal prosecution witnesses were examined and witnesses to the Best Bakery massacre began to testifying on 27 October 2004 as part of the proceedings of Case 315 of 2004 at the Greater sessions court at Mazgaon
Mazagaon, also spelled Mazgaon and Mazagon (Portuguese rule Mazagão), and pronounced by the Catholics as 'Mazgon' or 'Maz-a-gon' and the Marathi-speakers as Mazhgav, is one of the seven islands of Mumbai.
References
;Notes
{{reflist
;Sou ...
, Mumbai. These witnesses included Tufel Ahmed, Raees Khan Pathan and Shehzad Khan, who worked at the bakery and witnessed the events.
However, on 3 November 2004, Zaheera filed an affidavit at the High Court stating, "If we don't lie as instructed by Teesta, then these people will get me and my family members killed," Zaheera said with regard to Teesta Setalvad
Teesta Setalvad (born 9 February 1962) is an Indian civil rights activist and journalist. She is the secretary of ''Citizens for Justice and Peace'' (CJP), an organisation formed to advocate for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots.
Personal life
...
, a journalist and activist who was assisting to obtain justice for the riot victims.
Further, she said that "after the fast track court had acquitted the 21 accused, two Muslims had barged into her house and told her that to change her statement in the interest of the community. Thereafter she along with brother were taken to Mumbai to Teesta Setalvad." Her statements were vague, often self-contradictory, but she insisted that she had been kept captive by Setalvad who had made her sign some legal papers. She further said that the matter was taken to Supreme Court against her wishes.
In June 2005, the investigating officer P.P. Kanani was cross examined. Kanani had taken over as investigating officer from Himmatsinh Baria of Panigate Police Station on 10 March 2002. On 29 August 2005, a committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India, Supreme court indicted Zaheera Sheikh as a "liar" and criticized her series of "flip-flop statements". The Government of Gujarat
The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...
filed an amended appeal in the Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.
The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The pre ...
seeking a retrial of the case and the appeal was admitted by the Gujarat High Court. After being indicted by the Supreme Court of India, the police registered a case against Shrivastav Madhubhai Babubhai for intimidating
Intimidation is to "make timid or make fearful"; or to induce fear. This includes intentional behaviors of forcing another person to experience general discomfort such as humiliation, embarrassment, inferiority, limited freedom, etc and the victi ...
witnesses to the incident.
The government of Gujarat
The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...
admitted that there were lapses on the part of the Gujarat Police, police in registering and recording FIR in the case and on the part of the prosecution in recording the evidence of witnesses. It said that the police had attempted to help the accused by not submitting names of the accused. Meanwhile, Zahira Sheikh, admitted lying in court and not testifying against the accused. She said she had been threatened by senior figures in the local organisation of Gujarat's ruling party, the Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
. Thus 17 of the accused charged with murdering 14 people were retried in the case beginning in 2004.
Perjury
A serious dent to Best Bakery case key witness Zahira Sheikh's credibility, a Supreme Court-appointed committee has indicted her as a "self-condemned liar" falling to "inducements" by "certain persons" to give "inconsistent" statements during the trial of the case. A bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice H K Sema opened the sealed report and read out the three main conclusions of the committee headed by Supreme Court Registrar General B M Gupta. At the same time, the committee gave a clean chit to social activist Teesta Setalavad of the charges of inducement levelled against her by Zahira.
On 10 January 2005, the court referred the matter for inquiry on being faced with the flip-flops of Zahira much to the embarrassment of her one time protector and social activist Setalavad. The bench, after glancing through the over 150-page report, said that the committee has come to the conclusion that there was inducement given to Zahira by certain persons and that there were inconsistencies in her statements. The court made it clear that it has not accepted the report and sought the opinion of the counsel for both Zahira and Setalavad in regard to 'acceptability' of the report.
Allegation of false depositions
Mother of prime witness in the Best Bakery case Zahira Sheikh, was on Thursday held guilty of contempt of court by the special court conducting the re-trial here. The court imposed a fine of Rs 100 on Sehrunnisa after reading her reply to a show-cause notice issued to her earlier in the day. Sehrunnisa was taken into custody after the trial court initiated contempt proceedings against her for her defiant attitude during her deposition as a witness. While tendering evidence, she frequently looked at Raes Khan, an NGO activist, who was sitting in the court.
Even after the judge told her to address the court and not to look at others she continued to look at Raes. The judge warned her that she could be held for contempt, to which Sehrunnisa replied: "Please take action against me." Sehrunnisa said Raes was gesturing at her and hence, she was looking at him.
Life sentences
In February 2006, a court in India convicted nine of the 21 people of murder, sentencing them to life imprisonment. It acquitted 8 others, while issuing warrants for the arrest of four missing persons.[Life sentences in India riot case]
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
. Of the nine convicted for life by the trial court, Bombay High Court acquitted five for want of evidence, but upheld the sentence in respect of the remaining four.
The judgment, called "landmark" by BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, brought the case to an end. The case has the legacy of being "one of the country's most controversial and high profile trials."
, upheld the life sentences of four accused, Sanjay Thakkar, Bahadursingh Chauhan, Sanabhai Baria and Dinesh Rajbhar on the basis of four eyewitness accounts, who were injured bakery employees and identified the accused. It acquitted five accused, Rajubhai Baria, Pankaj Gosavi, Jagdish Rajput, Suresh alias Lalo Devjibhai Vasava and Shailesh Tadvi, for lack of evidence.