Perjury
Zaheera Sheikh retracted her statement again. She stated that the judgment passed by the Gujarat court was correct. She also stated that she had never met the legislator. She claims that she made all the statements under the pressure of NGO activist Teesta Setalvad.
The prosecution declared Zaheera Sheikh to be a hostile witness. A tape by Tehelka claimed that Zaheera had been bribed by an MLA. Masjlis-e-Shura, an apex decision-making body of Muslims, consequently declared Sheikh a 'dissembler', effectively ousting her from the Muslim community. The organization gave as its reason that Zaheera was "tarnishing image by making false statements."
Sheikh was sentenced by the Indian Supreme Court to one year in prison for perjury in the murder, after being found guilty by the court of lying. She was also fined 50,000 rupees (US$1,000), which, if unpaid, would increase her time in prison by another year.
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Famous quotes containing the word perjury:
“I do not allow myself to be moved by anything except the law. If there has been a mistake in the law, or if I think there has been perjury or injustice, I will weigh the petition most carefully, but I do not permit myself to be moved by more harrowing details, and I try to treat each case as if I was reviewing it or hearing it for the first time from the bench.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)