Thank you, Your Honour

On June 27, 2003, the Vadodara Fast-Track Criminal Court acquitted 21 accused in the most ghastly carnage of the murder of 14 men, women and...

On June 27, 2003, the Vadodara Fast-Track Criminal Court acquitted 21 accused in the most ghastly carnage of the murder of 14 men, women and children in the Best Bakery case. Thirty-seven witnesses under obvious pressure had turned hostile, disowning their previous statements to the police. Zaheera Sheikh, a key eyewitness, was one of them.

The investigation of the case by the police was perfunctory, the Public Prosecutor was willingly inactive, and the Judge said he was helpless. Crowds outside the court jubilantly greeted the acquittal, and the victims of the crimes, their relatives and the minority community despaired of justice. On 30 June, 2003, the National Human Right Commission inquired of the government of Gujarat what steps they were taking against the acquittal.

There was a deafening silence from the government of Gujarat for over a month. The NHRC then took the bold decision to move the Supreme Court on August 2, 2003. What would be the attitude of the Supreme Court on August 8, 2003, when the NHRC petitions came for admission? This was a matter of grave anxiety to me and my colleagues P P Rao, S Muralidhar, who represented the NHRC on that day.

The NHRC had taken a great risk to its standing in moving the Supreme Court. The NHRC was not a party in the Best Bakery case. It could not claim to represent the victims or their relatives. In the past its directions to the government of Gujarat were resented. The NHRC had only desired a proper investigation by an outside agency of the riot crimes in Gujarat and a fair trial. Was that a sufficient reason to bypass the usual appeal to the high court, which the state government told the Supreme Court that it had filed the previous day?

On the other hand, if the Supreme Court declined to intervene, would not the victims and their relations feel let down and the image of the Indian judiciary in India and abroad be tarnished? Would the Supreme Court take the easy and safe way to tell the NHRC to await the outcome of the appeal by the government to the high court? These question worried us no end.

However Chief Justice V N Khare8217;s response was heartening. He treated the NHRC petition as a public interest petition and called upon the government of Gujarat to show that their belated appeal against the acquittals to the high court was not an eyewash. He ordered the government of Gujarat to protect the threatened witnesses and their families in other critical criminal cases in Gujarat. On the next hearing, an outspoken Chief Justice, appalled at the manner in which prosecutors and the accused were seen to be colluding in Gujarat, reminded the government of Gujarat8212;in his now-famous statement8212;to follow the path of Raj Dharma or quit.

The Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of Gujarat were summoned to appear in the Supreme Court on September 19, 2003. For the first time in the history of the court, the Chief Justice of India examined these officers in open court, rejecting the loud objections of several parties to such a procedure. By questioning them in open court, Khare brought out the indifference of the authorities to the spectacle of witness after witness turning hostile in the Best Bakery case. On December 26, 2003, the Gujarat High Court in appeal nevertheless affirmed the acquittals of the accused in the Best Bakery case.

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But in a quick hearing on April 12, 2004, the Supreme Court in a powerful judgment, this time by Justices Doraiswamy Raju and A. Pasayat, set aside the high court judgment, observing that 8216;8216;the justice delivery system was being taken for a ride and literally allowed to be abused, misused and mutilated by subterfuge8217;8217;. The court ordered a retrial of the case in Maharashtra with a new Public Prosecutor. The court also expunged the high court8217;s unbecoming remarks on the motives of NHRC in moving the Supreme Court.

The course of criminal justice in Gujarat, and indeed in the rest of the country, has received a salutary correction from the Supreme Court. No longer will there be a feeling in a section of people that fair trials can be subverted by the State and it can get away with it.

On May 2, 2004, Khare laid down his office as Chief Justice. He may not have written many monumental judgments which will go down in history, but he will have the satisfaction of knowing that by his robust and compassionate orders, he made the most lasting contribution to restoring the common man8217;s faith in criminal justice.

The writer is senior advocate, Supreme Court, and former Solicitor General