The famous Best Bakery case of Gujarat that led to international condemnation of Narendra Modi led-BJP Government for the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat during the 2002 post-Godhra riots has reached a full circle. Utter confusion prevails as the prominent witness Zaheera Sheikh has recanted her statement in a special court in Mumbai during the hearing on November 3.
Much to the embarrassment of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) who kept the issue alive and had been fighting the case for Zaheera, she alleged that she was "forced into making false statements by my own people from Vadodara at the behest of Teesta Setalvad". (Teesta is among those NGOs who sought from protection for Zaheera and has taken the legal battle to Supreme Court)
It was on Teesta's plea that the Supreme Court passed strictures against Modi Government for the lethargic trial in the post-Godhra riots and eventually transferred the hearing out of Gujarat to Mumbai. Zaheera now says that none of the BJP leaders including the local MLA had met her or threatened her. Anyway, it is an interesting twist to the case.
- Prakash Pillai