The Hindu : Front Page : Court orders probe into veracity of Zahira's statements

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Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Court orders probe into veracity of Zahira's statements

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 10. The Supreme Court today asked its Registrar-General to conduct a probe on whether the statement of the key witness in the Best Bakery case that she had not filed any affidavit in the case and her allegations against social activist Teesta Setalvad were correct or not.

The Bench said, "we are of the considered view that a detailed inquiry is necessary to ascertain if Zahira was telling the truth and which version of her is the truthful account of what she has allegedly seen or not seen. Various documents placed to show that she made a departure from her statements in the past. Allegations have been made that she had been threatened and bullied by Ms. Setalvad. On the other hand, allegations were made that Zahira was threatened and lured to change her statement."

The Bench observed that the situation was delicate and directed the Registrar-General to take the help of a Delhi police official of the rank of Inspector-General and conduct a probe about the basis of the statements of Zahira and the affidavits filed by Ms. Setalvad in the apex court. The Bench, however, declined to stay the on-going trial of the case which the apex court shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai. The Court allowed the request of the trial court to extend the time limit for completion of the trial and fixed May 31 as the deadline for completing the trial.

Senior advocate P. N. Lekhi, appearing for Zahira, accused Ms. Setalvad of selling the self-respect of a State abroad for money. This was objected to by senior counsel Anil Diwan, appearing for Ms. Setalvad, who said that the court proceedings were being used for "character assassination" of the social activist who did her best to establish the truth in the riot case.

Mr. Lekhi alleged that Zahira was coerced in the name of religion to sign documents written in English, which she did not understand. He accused Ms. Setalvad of misleading the court by filing affidavits on her own but falsely showing it to be those of Zahira's. He said there should be an investigation into the number of foreign trips made by Ms. Setalvad and the money earned by her from "selling" the documents prepared by her on the Best Bakery case.

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