annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Gujarat
and asked it to ensure that it appointed a
Public prosecutor in the Best Bakery case
with the consent of the victims.
16 August 2004: Supreme Court
directed the Gujarat government to come
out with the notification, naming Mr PR
Vakil and Mrs Manjula Rao, as special
Public Prosecutor and assistant special
Public Prosecutor respectively, before the
next hearing in the trial court. 17 The court
also directed the Gujarat government to
explain within four weeks the steps it had
taken to protect witnesses against attempts
made to intimidate them into withdrawing
their statements made to the CBI in the
case.
9 September 2004: Special court
directed prosecutor P R Vakil to submit
draft of charges against all 21 accused by
13 September 2004. 18
15 September 2004: Prosecution
informed the special court that it proposed
to charge the 21 accused under various
IPC sections, including murder, attempt to
murder, rioting, conspiracy and common
intention. 19
On 22 September 2004: Special judge
A M Thipsay charged 16 of the 21 accused
with various sections of IPC and ordered
the appearance of the first witness in the
case on 15 October 2004. He also
reportedly said that charges against the
remaining five accused would be framed
as and when they are arrested.20
On 5 October 2004: Reverting his
earlier testimony, one of the two
independent witnesses in Best Bakery
killings, Kallu Mian Sheikh, reportedly
68
recalled what he saw on 2 March 2002
when officers from the Panigate police
station took him to Best Bakery to witness
a panchnama being drawn. 21
On 3 November 2004: Key witness to
the Best Bakery case, Zaheera Sheikh,
accused activist Ms Teesta Setalvad for
allegedly forcing her to “implicate
innocent persons” in the case. 22
On 6 November 2004: Teesta Setalvad
reportedly filed an application in the
Supreme Court seeking a probe by the CBI
into the circumstances that led to the
witness’ including Zaheera’s about-turn.
Setalvad appealed the Court to investigate
why Zaheera wanted to depose under
police protection. 23
III. Prisons and prisoners
Undertrials involved in the Godhra
carnage case alleged harassment by jail
authorities during Namaz and poor
medication inside the Sabarmati jail. During
a regular production of undertrials
conducted through video-conferencing by
special POTA judge Sonia Gokani on 20
January 2004, Maulvi Hussain Umarji, one
of the key accused, alleged poor medical
facilities inside the jail. Another accused,
Mohammed Hussain Kalota alleged that on
8 January 2004 jail authorities had beaten up
some prisoners while they were offering
Namaz after a scuffle between prisoners of
two barracks. 24
The paucity of accommodation
remained an acute problem in all the
prisons in the State. Due to shortage of
space and accommodation, all jails