Breaking | Mumbai Court Acquits Two Accused In 2002 Best Bakery Case

A Sessions Court in Mumbai on Tuesday acquitted two accused in the second part of the 2002 Best Bakery case in Gujarat.

The two accused Harshad Solanki and Mafat Gohil were absconding when the other accused in the communal riots case faced trial in Mumbai leading to a separate trial for them.

They were arrested in 2013 and the trial against them began in 2019.

Fourteen people were killed at the famous Best Bakery in Vadodara on March 1, 2002, following an attack by a mob comprising over 1,000 people during the Godhra Riots.

The Gujarat police had booked 21 people on murder charges but in 2003, a Vadodara court acquitted all the accused. The Supreme Court in 2004 then directed a retrial outside Gujarat — to ensure fairness.

In the Mumbai trial, 17 of the 21 accused faced trail and Retd Justice Abhay Thipsay (then an sessions court judge) found nine people guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment and 8 were acquitted. 

In 2012, the Bombay High Court acquitted five of the nine accused, and confirmed while confirming punishment given to four of them. The court had relied heavily on the testimonies of four eye witnesses during the trial.

Both Solanki and Gohil had faced trial before the Vadodara court but were absconding during the retrial in Mumbai.

In 2018 their bail applications were rejected with the court holding that there was enough to prosecute them. The two claimed they weren't aware of a retrial.

The evidence in the earlier Mumbai trial was used against them, however they were allowed to cross examine the witnesses related to their identification. Special Public Prosecutor Manjula Rao examined 10 witnesses.

The accused were represented by Advocate Prakash Salsingikar who claimed there wasn't sufficient evidence against them.

Last year, Solanki, one of the two accused alleged tutoring of witnesses in the trial and sought transfer of the case to some other Additional Sessions Judge.

The application raised doubts on the role of activist Teesta Setalvad after her arrest by the Gujarat police and said that her role in tutoring of witnesses also needed to be probed. The application was rejected.