Author: Agencies
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 30, 2011
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/best-bakery-yasmeen-moves-hc;-says-she-was-misguided-by-teesta/783431/0
Shaikh Yasmeen Bano, a key prosecution witness
in the 2002 Best Bakery case, has moved the Bombay High Court alleging she
was "lured and misguided" by a social activist into giving false
testimony against 17 accused persons, of which nine were sentenced to life
imprisonment.
Yasmeen filed the petition earlier this week,
after no action was taken on her letter dated June 17, 2010 addressed to the
Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
"Yasmeen gave false deposition against
the accused and identified them falsely at the behest and advice of Teesta
Setalvad only in the false hope that she (Teesta) would help her financially,"
the petition states.
It further claims that Setalvad had made Yasmeen
an instrument to achieve the ulterior goal. "Yasmeen was obsessed with
the idea of getting money from Teesta and hence she did not think much about
the repercussion of her false deposition against innocent persons. She is
however repenting now," the petition states.
Yasmeen has sought that her evidence be recorded
afresh by the High Court while hearing the appeal filed by the nine convicted
accused challenging the trial court's order.
Yasmeen was the only prosecution witness from
the Shaikh family who stood by the police's case against the 17 accused.
Rest of the family, including prime witness
and Yasmeen's sister-in-law Zaheera Shaikh, had turned hostile, alleging that
they were forced by Setalvad to lie. According to Yasmeen, one Rais Khan,
who is a close associate of Setalvad, had met her along with local Muslim
leaders claiming her life was in danger in Gujarat and she should shift to
Mumbai where she would be taken care of.
In February 2006, the sessions court here
sentenced nine accused to life imprisonment. The court later tried and convicted
Zaheera and others who had turned hostile for perjury.
Fourteen people who had taken refuge in the
Best Bakery, owned by the Shaikh family, in Vadodara were killed on March
1, 2002 during the post-Godhra riots.
All the convicts have filed appeals in the
Bombay High Court, which are yet to come up for hearing.
