The Hindu : 21 accused in Gujarat riot case acquitted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 28, 2003

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21 accused in Gujarat riot case acquitted

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD June 27. In the first judgment of the post-Godhra communal riot case in Gujarat, all the 21 accused in the `Best Bakery' carnage, in which about 12 persons were burnt alive, have been acquitted by the Vadodara fast-track court.

The sessions judge, H.U. Mahida, issued the order today citing "lack of evidence" after almost all the witnesses turned hostile and either refused to recognise the accused or described them as the "actual saviours".

Even the main complainant, Zahira Habibullah Sheikh, and her family members, who were brought before the court escorted by a BJP member of the Assembly, identified some of the accused as those who tried to save some people. Significantly, Zahira Sheikh is reported to be "missing" after she deposed before the court. The carnage on March 1 last year was one of the major incidents in Vadodara after the Godhra train carnage when a mob of about 5,000 people had set fire to the bakery owned by a Muslim.

But among the 12 burnt alive were three Hindu workers who were trapped inside the bakery along with three women and two children. Two people were still believed to be "missing" but the police were not sure whether the bones recovered from the spot belonged to the 12 persons or of two other people. The Vadodara police had arrested 21 persons for having master-minded the attack and for actually setting fire to it. The chargesheet was filed in March this year and the trial began in May in the fast-track court. The court examined 73 witnesses but none was prepared to identify any of the accused as the actual perpetrator of the crime.

While most other major incidents, including the Naroda-Patiya and the Gulmarg Society carnages in Ahmedabad and the Sardarpura village riots in Mehsana district in which more than 250 people were burnt alive, are still being investigated, the Vadodara court judgment has created doubts about the outcome of the other cases.

Many, including a few ruling party MLAs and VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders, were named as accused in the Naroda-Patiya and Gulmarg Society incidents but none has been arrested.

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