Best case: 2 days on, states at odds

Two days after a sessions court judge asked the Gujarat and Maharashtra governments to come to an agreement, the two states are yet to estab...

Two days after a sessions court judge asked the Gujarat and Maharashtra governments to come to an agreement, the two states are yet to establish an official line of communication to discuss the appointment of a public prosecutor (PP) for the Best Bakery retrial. Instead, both still seem intent on appointing their own prosecutors.

The two states asked for time to appoint their respective public prosecutors. By evening, Gujarat had selected Atul Mehta. As for Maharashtra, it is scanning a list that includes Ujjwal Nikam, P. R. Vakil and Manjula Rao. A senior official said the Maharashtra government is clear that it wants a panel of lawyers to handle the case. The panel will be appointed after obtaining written consent from the victims and their counsel.

In Ahmedabad, Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Ashok Bhatt struck a different note. ‘‘The Best Bakery case has been transferred from Gujarat to Maharashtra but the case remains with the Gujarat government. It is still Gujarat government versus the Best Bakery accused.’’ Bhatt said it was obvious that his government would appoint the public prosecutor. ‘‘If Maharashtra has appointed a PP of its own then it needs to seek a clarification from Supreme Court on the matter,’’ he said.

A lawyer representing prime witness Zaheera Sheikh, Mihir Desai, said they had initiated contact with the Maharashtra government and forwarded their own list of names. Desai has made it clear that he would not support a Gujarat appointee. The SC had stated that the choice of public prosecutor be done in consultation with the witnesses.

EXCLUSIVE: EC brings in feature to check misuse of identity to seek voter list deletions

Political Pulse2 hr ago

The Election Commission has launched a new 'e-sign' feature on its portal and app to prevent fraud. This comes after allegations of misuse of online voter deletion forms in Karnataka. The feature requires voters to verify their identity using their Aadhaar-linked phone numbers, reducing the possibility of fraud.

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