Teesta Setalvad, social activist working for the victims in the case, said the Supreme Court may decide tomorrow the perplexed issue of the appointment of prosecutor for the case, which was transferred to Maharashtra from Gujarat following an apex court order.
On July 19, the sessions court had ordered the city police commissioner to execute the non-bailable warrants that it issued against the 10 absconding accused in the case and directed the city police to act alongwith Gujarat police in executing the warrant and apprehending the absconding accused.
Designated judge Abhay Thipsay kept the matter for August nine, the date on which the Supreme Court is expected to take a decision on the controversy surrounding the appointment of prosecutor.
The court had also taken into custody three accused -- Kamlesh Tadvi, Mahesh alias Langdo Vishwasrao Jadhav and Jagdish Rajput -- and remanded them to custody till tomorrow. It had ordered medical examination of Jagdish Rajput, suffering from a serious ailment.
The apex court decided to hear on August nine the vexed issue of appointment of prosecutor after Zaheera Sheikh, the prime witness in the case, moved the Supreme Court seeking its direction as both the states remained adamant by claiming their right to appoint the prosecutor by interpreting the earlier SC directions in their own ways.
The issue has remained unsolved even after the court conducting the re-trial observed, on July five, that both states should solve the issue amicably.
Gujarat government appointed Atul Mehta and T S Nanavati as prosecutors to conduct the case after the Supreme Court directed re-trial of the Best Bakery case in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra, appointed P R Vakil, Manjula Rao, Zaheruddin Shaikh and S M Vora as prosectors.
The Gujarat government stated that since the apex court ordered a re-trial and only moved the venue to Maharashtra, it has the right to appoint a public prosecutor.
However, Maharashtra government submitted that the idea behind the apex court directive to shift the re-trial outside Gujarat indicated that the state would have to appoint a public prosecutor. The state also quoted directives which stated that Maharashtra should bear the cost of the trial.
Clarifying on the directives during the last hearing, judge Thipsay said that his interpretation of the directives meant that Gujarat has the right to appoint the prosecutor.
Thipsay cited example of how central agencies like CBI send own public prosecutors to various states to fight their cases, to highlight Gujarat government's prerogative to appoint a PP.
As the two sides argued their cases, Zaheera's lawyer, Mihir Desai informed the court that he was moving the Supreme Court to get a clear directions on the issue.
Fourteen people, most of them from minority community, were killed in a carnage in Best Bakery in Vadodara on March one, 2002 in wake of the post-Godhra violence.
Out of the 11 arrested in the Best Bakery case since the Supreme Court ordered a re-trial, one accused has been granted bail while the remaining 10 are in judicial custody.
Although 21 accused were tried by a fast track court, they were acquitted since witnesses turned hostile. The Gujarat High Court also upheld the lower court order acquitting the accused.
Later, prime witness, Zaheera moved the Supreme Court with the help of an NGO, seeking re-trial on the ground that she was intimidated during earlier trial.
