The Hindu : National : Zahira fails to appear before panel again

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Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

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National

Zahira fails to appear before panel again

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD, MARCH 21. For the fourth time, the key witness of the Best Bakery communal riot case, Zahira Sheikh, failed to appear before the G.T. Nanavati and K.G. Shah judicial commission here today which also kept pending a decision on summoning the former president, K. R. Narayanan.

She has now been asked to appear before the commission on April 13.

Ms. Sheikh through her lawyer, Narendra Makwana, pleaded that she was still busy completing her affidavit to be submitted before the Supreme Court and would need at least one more adjournment before she would be ready to appear before it.

Ms. Sheikh was summoned by the commission probing into the Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra communal riots in Gujarat on a plea by the advocate of the Jan Sangharsha Mancch, Mukul Sinha, for cross-examination following her media statements in November contradicting the affidavits she had filed before the commission in which she named some of the accused. The application for cross-examination was submitted in December and since then, Ms. Sheikh had been summoned thrice but she failed to appear on health grounds or due to other reasons and every time sought further postponement of the cross-examination.

In the face objections by the State Government Pleader, Sunit Shah, the commission decided to keep in abeyance a decision to summon the former President who recently made some statements before the media accusing the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, of inaction to control the Gujarat riots.

In its letter to the commission, the Government Pleader questioned the accuracy of the media reports and objected to summoning a person of the stature of the former President merely on the basis of reports in a section of the press. The letter pointed out that judiciary and judicial forum generally did not depend on media reports without making further inquiries. It also questioned the authenticity of many media reports during the communal riots which were not always "correct and accurate." About Mr. Narayanan's reported criticism of delay in deploying the Army in controlling the riots, it said the details of the deployment of Army in the affected areas were already with the commission and it could judge the veracity of the statements.

Beyond terms?

The Government Pleader also raised doubts about the jurisdiction of the commission and pointed out that summoning a former President might be beyond its terms. The commission is now likely to write a letter to Mr Narayanan verifying the authenticity of the media reports quoting him before taking a decision on summoning him as requested by Dr. Sinha. The Government also took objections to summoning a key prosecution witness in the Godhra carnage case, Abdul Sattar Kalandhar, who recently in a media statement accused the police of threatening him of dire consequences if he appeared before the commission.

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