The import of the historic Supreme Court directive on the Best Bakery case will be felt long after this particular case runs its course. By ordering a reinvestigation into the Best Bakery case, and a retrial outside the state of Gujarat, the apex court has provided a new model for the delivery of justice in a situation where the criminal justice system has failed at the local level. This holds up hope that no killer-rioter, no perpetrator of mass hate crimes, will escape unpunished in the future.The history of riots in this country has been a history of the miscarriage of justice. Indeed, the counsel for the Gujarat government had once even argued before the Supreme Court that given the “shortcomings” in India’s criminal justice system, which has resulted in rioters being let off the hook for over 40 years, the miscarriage of justice in the Best Bakery case should really not occasion surprise. His observation had, of course, provoked a sharp reply from Chief Justice V.N. Khare at that point, who asked him pointedly whether that meant that the rioters in Gujarat should also be let off. Through its latest order the apex court has signalled its determination to ensure that this will not happen, not now and not in the future. It was based on the court’s perception that justice for the victims of the Gujarat riots cannot be ensured in Gujarat; in a state where — in its memorable words — “the modern day Neros were looking elsewhere when innocent children and helpless women were burning and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime could be protected”. There was enough evidence before it to indicate that at every stage — from the registration of the cases, to the gathering of evidence, to the prosecution of the accused, to the delivering of justice in the courts — there were serious and unconscionable failures. Its indictment was thorough and damning. If the prosecution acted more like the defence counsel, the trial court was “indifferent to sacrilege being committed to justice” and the high court “miserably failed to maintain required judicial balance and sobriety”. It held the fanatics who had perpetrated the violence in the name of religion as “worse than terrorists”.There is an important principle that was being reiterated by the honourable judges here: That the judicial process cannot be compromised, or allowed to become a casualty to political agendas, or executive fiat. That justice, ultimately, is not an abstract value but a vital process that informs public institutions. Now that the highest court in the land has spoken, it is for the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra to respect its order in letter and spirit. Not only must the Gujarat police take up the task of reinvestigation and prosecution in right earnest, witnesses must be given full and fool-proof protection so that justice, although delayed, is indeed done.
