Date:07/07/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/07/07/stories/2003070704271100.htm

National

New twist to Best Bakery case

New Delhi July 6. A key witness in the controversial Best Bakery case in Gujarat, Saharunnisa Shaikh, today said she had made a ``false'' statement in the Special Court, which had acquitted all the 21 accused, as she ``was under threat''.

``What I said was false'', she told `Aaj Tak' when asked whether her statement inside the Special Court was true or false.

``Everybody loves his or her life. We love our life. I do not know who threatened us ... But we were threatened,'' she said.

Asked who had threatened her, she said ``it was inside the court. The people ... the Hindus, were standing there. They threatened us. We were scared.''

To a question whether she or her 19-year old daughter, Zahira, would make a statement before the National Human Rights Commission, she said ``I don't know what statement I will make. My daughter knows that I am under pressure''. A majority of the witnesses including Zahira had turned hostile and all the accused were acquitted for want of evidence. — PTI