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| Saturday, 9 August 2003 |
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Supreme Court orders protection for Gujarat carnage witness NEW DELHI, Friday (AFP) India's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the western state of Gujarat to provide protection for the star witness to the murder of 12 Muslims during communal riots last year. The court issued the order ahead of a landmark hearing on a petition by India's human rights watchdog to reopen the trial of 21 people acquitted over the carnage in Gujarat. The court ordered the Gujarat's Hindu nationalist-led government to extend protection to 17-year-old Zaheera Sheikh, who has fled the state as she seeks justice for her father and 11 workers in his bakery who died in the attack. Sheikh appealed to the court for protection and on Friday filed a separate petition for a retrial. Twenty-one men were acquitted last month by a court in Gujarat after Sheikh and 72 other witnesses retracted their incriminating testimony. She said later that she lied in court after threats from local right-wing Hindu leaders. Earlier India's riot-ravaged state of Gujarat Thursday lodged a court appeal against the controversial acquittal of 21 people charged with the murder of a dozen Muslims in last year's sectarian violence. The U-turn by the state government came 10 days after India's top human rights body appealed to the Supreme Court to order a retrial of the 21 Hindus acquitted over the killing of 12 Muslims in a bakery. Officials from the Supreme Court said it was likely to give a verdict on an appeal by the autonomous National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Gujarat's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to the violence that left up to 2,000 people dead, lodged appeals against the acquittals in the state high court. The state authorities also challenged similar acquittals of many others who had been initially charged with leading Hindu mobs to kill Muslims during the riots, but were later freed by local courts, sparking uproar across India. Observers said the move indicated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was trying to distance himself from allegations of his government's hand in the riots, ahead of key elections in five states this year. In one of the most violent incidents during India's worst communal bloodletting in a decade, a group of Hindus allegedly attacked the Best Bakery on March 1, 2002, with petrol bombs and daggers, killing the 12 Muslims. Twenty-one men were charged with leading the attack, but were acquitted in June after 35 witnesses retracted their statements. The key witness, 19-year-old Muslim Zaheera Sheikh, approached the NHRC about holding a new trial outside of Gujarat, possibly in the western city of Bombay, because she was too afraid to tell the truth in her home state. Sheikh said she lied in court after receiving death threats from local leaders of the BJP, which also heads India's federal coalition government. On July 31, the NHRC urged the Supreme Court to hold a retrial of those acquitted outside Gujarat, a step that indicated its distrust of the provincial administration. The rights body told the Supreme Court it had a duty to "unearth the truth and render justice" as otherwise "victims become demoralised and criminals are encouraged". The BJP said it was against any miscarriage of justice which was why Modi's government challenged the acquittals. "The BJP and the Gujarat government are keen on ensuring that justice is done, the culprits are brought to book and the victims compensated," party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. He criticised the NHRC for asking the Supreme Court to order a retrial outside Gujarat. |
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