The Hindu : National : Media not allowed to view video of Best Bakery incident

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005

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National

Media not allowed to view video of Best Bakery incident

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, MARCH 30. The Special Public Prosecutor, Manjula Rao, said today that she would not allow the media to view a police video of the Best Bakery incident. She did not give any reason for this.

When the videotape was produced in court on Tuesday, the Additional Sessions Judge, Abhay Thipsay, asked a member of the court staff to view it along with the defence and the prosecution and note down the details of the tape's condition. Today, the defence submitted an objection to the tape being used as evidence on the ground that it may not be authentic.

The defence counsel, D.S. Jambaulikar, said he had made an application questioning the authenticity of the video.Ms. Rao examined Gautam Chauhan, videographer, who said he had shot the video around 10 a.m. on March 2, 2002. When he reached the scene, he found the bakery burning. The injured people were being brought down and taken away in an ambulance. He also saw the fire brigade bringing down some dead bodies. He filmed all this. He also saw an old lady being brought down from the terrace. He verified the videotape and named the policemen at the scene of the incident. He worked for Dimple Video, which took on contracts from the police.

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