Case and Acquittal
The day after the attack, Zaheera Sheikh filed the first informant complaint. Sheikh, a 19-year-old during the incident, was a key and notable witness. She stated that she saw her family members burn to death. When the mob gathered, shouting communal slogans, her family fled to the terrace and some locked themselves in a first-floor room. The mob set the bakery on fire and killings continued from 6 pm to 10 am the next day. Her statements were recounted for many publications.
On March 23, however, 37 of the 73 witnesses, including Sheikh, turned hostile.
All of the 21 accused were acquitted on June 27, 2003 by a "fast-track court" presided over by judge Abhay Thipse. Other witnesses had suffered head injuries and were not in a mental state to give an accurate witness account. The state government pointed to the lapses by the police in "registering and recording of FIR" (First Information Report) and on the part of the prosecution in "recording of evidence" of witnesses in the Best Bakery case.
Read more about this topic: Best Bakery Case
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