Both the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Congress Party came to the rescue of the victims in the Best Bakery case after the latter lost the case in Vadodara’s Sessions Court on June 27. It was the NHRC that sought a detailed report from the Modi administration of what stand it would take with the accused that were acquitted by the court. The Commission even sought to know whether the government would appeal to the higher court.

The Congress meanwhile said that it will intervene in the matter and will ask both the State and the Centre on what grounds the 21 accused were acquitted.

The judiciary had been the last resort for Gujarat’s Muslim community to have faith in, leaving aside the State administration, police and their own organisation, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). They trusted the NCM no longer as when the latter came to Gujarat recently it spoke on the same lines as the BJP.

Never did Gujarat see such violence in its 43-year-old history. The riots began a day after the Sabarmati Express train at Godhra was torched by angry mobs killing 59 people.

Soon after the Godhra incident, the administration filed a case against those involved in the carnage. The case filed in the State High Court had so far three hearings with 126 accused booked under POTA and as many as 62 accused absconding.

Excluding the Godhra case, the community has been fighting in the State’s courts over Naroda-Patiya, Gulbarg, Sardarpura and the Best Bakery cases in which 183 people in all lost their lives. But 16 months after the incident, on June 27, the Best Bakery case verdict was pronounced leaving the community baffled and disturbed. The case hearing which was taken up in Judge H. U. Mahida’s court in the Vadodara Sessions stated that all the evidence was inadequate for convicting the 21 accused and ordered their release.

The judge said it was not proper to convict the accused as there was not an iota of evidence against them. Besides, since both Zaheera Shaikh, the main plaintiff and her relatives were not present for the hearing, the court decided to dismiss the case.

According to eye witnesses, Zaheera, who was protected by local BJP MLA Madhu Srivastava soon after the Bakery was burnt down deliberately, was not present during the hearings. In her statement, she had said the MLA had protected her but the verdict was not enough for the community living here. Fourteen people , including some of Zaheera’s family and some workers were burnt alive in the Best Bakery on March 1, 2002.