Mumbai session court on Tuesday acquitted two accused in the 2002 Best Bakery case of Gujarat where 14 people were killed in a mob attack. Additional Sessions Judge M G Deshpande acquitted Harshad Solanki and Mafat Gohil on all the charges. Solanki and Gohil were absconding when the other accused faced trial in the communal riot case in Mumbai, leading to a separate trial for them.
In the first phase of the trial in the case, the Mumbai sessions court convicted nine of the 17 people accused of murder in February 2006.
In 2012, the Bombay High Court acquitted five of those convicted for want of evidence but upheld the conviction of four others, who had been sentenced to life by the trial court.
On March 1, 2002, two days after the Godhra carnage, a mob attacked Best Bakery in Vadodara. The mob burnt down the bakery and killed 14 people. The mob targeted the Muslims inside, including the Shaikh family that ran the bakery.
In 2003, as many as 19 people were acquitted after the conclusion of the trial in a local court. Later, their acquittal was confirmed by the Gujarat High Court.
One of the victims, Zahirabibi Shaikh, along with an NGO, moved the Supreme Court against the judgment.
She had urged the apex court that the judgments and orders passed by the trial as well as the Gujarat High Court be set aside.
Accepting the plea, the SC remanded the matter to Maharashtra and ordered a retrial and reinvestigation by the police.
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Updated: 13 Jun 2023, 02:43 PM IST
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