In court, we trust

There is an unwavering bottomline to the tumultuous saga of Zaheera Sheikh. This is a landmark case in which, for the very first time, the Supreme Court has shifted the trial out of a state after all the accused were acquitted, and ordered a retrial in another city in another state. This is a case of enormous political delicacy and consequence, given that in the public imagination, Zaheera Sheikh has become the face of the victim of Gujarat 2002. It is urgent, therefore, to safeguard the Best Bakery case from attempts 8212; from all sides, riding good motives and bad 8212; to rearrange the narrative in less than objective ways. And the onus to clear a way through the deepening fog lies squarely with the Supreme Court. After all, when it seemed that the process of justice was rushed into a dead end in Gujarat, it was the apex court that had stalwartly taken charge.

In the wake of Tehelka8217;s sting operation, the apex court must ensure that the courtroom in Mumbai opens its door to admit the new leads. The suspicion that Zaheera Sheikh may have been bribed, not intimidated, into changing her testimony in the fast track court in Vadodara in May 2003 which led to the acquittal of all 21 accused, has just been bared to public view. These leads must be rigorously pursued in Mumbai. It is in Mumbai, after all, that justice has been given another chance, and where it must demonstrate both its openness and its resilience, in the wake of this sensational disclosure or that one. The Mumbai court must decode the significance of Zaheera8217;s somersaults to the case in which she is the prime witness.

In Mumbai, we must remember, other witnesses in the Best Bakery case have already come forward to identify the accused. While Zaheera Sheikh was the reason for the Best Bakery case8217;s vault into the national spotlight, and its staying there, she is certainly not the only one to have recounted the events of that night of March 1, 2002, when a mob burst into the Best Bakery and burnt 14 alive. There has been no punishment for that horrific crime so far. Having imaginatively salvaged the process of justice from the tangle of state intimidation and political pressure in Gujarat, the apex court must now ensure its quick and just resolution in Mumbai.