THE judgement of the Gujarat High Court in the Best Bakery case, whereby it rejected the appeal of the State Government against the acquittal of all the 21 accused by the lower court, ought to be made compulsory reading for the secularists and the self-serving NGO industry run by them. That the High Court’s decision has not found favour with these self-appointed guardians of public morals is proved beyond doubt by the scant notice given to it in the media under their control. While the acquittal by the fast-track trial judge was played up in screaming headlines as if the court had committed a huge crime in finding the accused not guilty, the High Court judgement endorsing the same court’sacquittal of all the 21 accused as correct in law was dismissed as a filler in some obscure corner of the secularist press. After the lower court’s judgement, the secularists had launched a shrill campaign in which, unfortunately, even the apex court in the land too was dragged in. The Supreme Court of India and the National Human Rights Commission erred on the side of excessive zeal in openly coming out on the side of the detractors of the lower court’sorder. Now, no less than the Gujarat High Court has vindicated the lower court and, presumably, left these busybodies, out to garner sympathy and support from the noisy secularists, totally speechless. It is hoped that in the light of their bitter experience in the Best Bakery case the institu-tions, which are enjoined upon by their constitutional role to stay above, and immune to, the partisan winds blowing in one or the other direction would henceforth maintain equanimity and equilibrium. Playing to the gallery by constitutional agencies cannot be, and should not be, any part of the role and functions of the apex court or the National Human Rights Commission.
The High Court order, we are gratified to note, has vindicated the stand of this newspaper. The court has said that “there seems to be a definite conspiracy to malign people by misusing Zaheera Sheikh,” the key witness in the case. “We are not prepared to believe that she turned hostile because she was threatened for deposing before the court on May 17, 2003: The trial court continued thereafter and the learned judge pronounced the judgement only on June 27, 2003. Immediately, on the next day of pronouncement of judgement, Zaheera Bibi had made a statement that she was threatened, therefore she had turned hostile. We have serious doubt about it.” Strong words those but which duly bring out the evil machinations of the secularists and the NGOs to use the poor woman as a pawn in their game to exploit her for their own partisan ends. We cannot do better than quote the Gujarat High Court on the real objective of these exploiters of human misery. “There seems to be a definite design and conspiracy to malign people by misusing this witness Zaheera Bibi, who is hardly 19 years old and can easily fall a prey to anyone and play into the dirty hands of anti-social and anti-national elements”, the court observed.
The court has spoken so very eloquently that it needs no comment from us. Tellingly, it notes that “it was only after a leading (or misleading) English daily approached her after the acquittal judgement that she came out with the case that she was threatened at the time of deposition and therefore could not speak the truth.” Noting that she was snatched by a Mumbai-based NGO and tutored to address the Press following the acquittal, the High Court said, “from all these we have a reasonable apprehension in our mind that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy of misusing this witness Zaheera by some people with an ulterior motive. Unfortunately, poor people like Zaheera and others have easily fallen their prey.” The High Court also took adverse notice of the fact that after the judgement some of the witnesses in the case were encouraged to make allegations against the trial judge. “This is nothing but a gross contempt.”
For sure, there are moves afoot to pin holes in the Gujarat High Court judgement in order to ensure its reversal. For, the secularists having concluded in their mind that the 21 accused in the case were guilty wanted the courts to do nothing other than to endorse their view regardless of whether there existed the required evidence to convict them. Such intolerance reveals a fascistic streak in the mental make-up of secularists. A truly open society provides space for all manner of thought processes to compete, but our secularists, and the media controlled by them, are so authoritarian that they seek to bar all voices from being heard other than their own. Hopefully, the Gujarat High Court verdict will act as a sobering influence on them, at least for some time till they latch on to another Zaheera to exploit for their own partisan ends. (Courtesy: Edit, The Free Press Journal, 16-1-2004)
For sure, there are moves afoot to pin holes in the Gujarat High Court judgement in order to ensure its reversal. For, the secularists having concluded in their mind that the 21 accused in the case were guilty wanted the courts to do nothing other than to endorse their view regardless of whether there existed the required evidence to convict them.
“We are not prepared to believe that she turned hostile because she was threatened for deposing before the court on May 17, 2003: The trial court continued thereafter and the learned judge pronounced the judgement only on June 27, 2003. Immediately, on the next day of pronouncement of judgement, Zaheera Bibi had made a statement that she was threatened, therefore she had turned hostile. We have serious doubt about it”.
–Gujarat High Court
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