The Hindu : National : Bakery case: apex court gives time till May 31

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Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005

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Bakery case: apex court gives time till May 31

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 4. The Supreme Court today extended till May 31, the term of the Mumbai Special Court hearing the Best Bakery case, which was transferred from a court in Vadodara in Gujarat. The present term of the court expires on April 30.

A Bench of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice H. K. Sema directed the trial judge to expedite the hearing of the trial. The bench further put on record the affidavit filed by the Gujarat Government before the Supreme Court Registrar-General probing whether the statement of Ms. Zaheera that she had not filed any affidavit in the case before the apex court and her allegations against Ms. Setalvad that she had coerced her was correct or not.

Ms. Setalvad had filed an application in the Supreme Court on November 6, 2004 demanding a CBI probe into the circumstances that led Ms. Zaheera to reverse her statement in Vadodra on November 3, 2004 than the one she gave earlier.

The apex court on January 10 constituted the high-level committee, headed by its Registrar-General, B.M. Gupta, who had co-opted Joint Commissioner of Police, Kanwaljeet Deol, as the other member to probe the matter. While both Ms. Zaheera and Ms. Setalvad had filed their affidavits, the Gujarat filed its affidavit now fully supporting Ms. Zaheera.

It pointed to an October 4, 2004 letter in which Ms. Setalvad was said to have requested the Special Public Prosecutor in the case to hand over the summons of the eyewitness to her. It also alleged that an affidavit in the name of Ms. Zaheera on February 16, 2004 was sworn and signed by Ms. Setalvad. The address of Ms. Zaheera did show that she resided in the Santacruz area of Mumbai. The affidavit alleged that Ms. Setalvad had not made any honest effort to help the trial. While the prosecution relied on statements made by Ms. Setalvad as truth, the credibility of her affidavits was put under the scanner before the High Court.

The Gujarat Government maintained that it always believed that the original affidavits filed in the name of Ms. Zaheera and heavily relied on by the apex court were not filed at the relevant point of time by Ms. Zaheera as during the period between July 6, 2003 and November 11, 2004 she was under the control and custody of Ms. Setalvad.

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