Best Bakery case: SC comes to Zahira's aid

NEW DELHI: On the Gujarat government''s attitude towards key witness Zahira Shaikh, the Supreme Court said on Friday the state was acting as the defence rather than the prosecution by threatening her with legal action for changing her statements.
The apex court said the state government''s "veiled threat of legal action for the changed statements and credibility of Zahira as a witness" threw doubts about its bonafides and showed its true colours.
"A reading of the statements in this regard gives an impression as if in the eyes of the state, Zahira is the accused who should be in the dock and not the persons who are made accused in the case," the Bench of Justices Doraiswamy Raju and Arijit Pasayat added.
It ridiculed the state judiciary, including the High Court, saying "the monstrosity" of the manner in which the courts below dealt with the riot cases called for stronger and severe handling. The Bench, however, desisted from doing so, hoping for a better performance from them.
In a related development, a Bench of Justices Ruma Pal, S B Sinha and S H Kapadia asked the Centre to supplement the efforts of the Gujarat government to provide protection to one Rais Khan Pathan, who has been working for the riot victims.
Hearing a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) petition seeking transfer of the 10 major riot cases outside Gujarat, solicitor-general Kirit N Raval said the Centre would take by May 20 appropriate measures for the protection of witnesses in the 10 major riot cases in Gujarat, including the Bilkis gangrape case.
Counsel Harish Salve and Indira Jaising said that since the witnesses belonging to a particular community were in a "state of apprehension", deployment of Central forces would instil a sense of security among them.