Zaheera Sheikh, the main witness in the Best Bakery trial, has told the court that she doesn’t know how or when her sister Sabeera died. According to the prosecution, Sabeera died in the attack on Best Bakery the nights of March 1 and 2, 2002 during the pogroms against Muslims in Gujarat.
She said she came […]
On January 18, Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar told reporters that the Delhi police forced him to confess to committing the September 11, 1993 blast outside the Indian Youth Congress building that killed nine people. Bhullar said that police used his forced confession to build a fabricated case against him.
Counsel for Davinder, who was brought on production warrant […]
In 2004, fifty-nine Punjab police officials were found guilty of human rights violations (scroll to eigth article) in twenty-eight cases. A total of fourty-four complaints against police officials were received.
A.A. Sidiqui, Punjab’s Director-General of Police, said that the Punjab Police Headquarters received 17,000 complaints in all.
He said 6261 complaints were received from Punjab State Human Rights Commission, […]
An independent panel of engineers has concluded that it is “highly unlikely” that the February 2002 Godhra train fire began from outside, contradicting the Modi government’s official account that the fire began from Muslim mobs outside the train throwing flammable liquid.
The report was prepared by a group of experts who reviewed physical evidence, testimony, and […]
The Punjab Chief Minister has announced his intention to appoint S.S. Virk Director General of Punjab Police (scroll to second article). Virk has been accused of human rights violations, however, and the party of former MLA Simranjit Singh Mann has written a memorandum in protest of this decision. Furthermore, his very appointment goes against normal procedures.
It is alleged in […]
In another setback for the Best Bakery trial, the main witness, Zahira Sheikh, has denied signing any application for justice in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Delhi.
During her examination at the Mazgaon sessions court, when special public prosecutor Manjula Rao asked her if she had approached NHRC, Zahira said she went to Delhi […]
Ranjit Bhushan wrote a column in The Indian Express regarding the failures of India’s criminal justice system. In it, he points to failures by the police preventing victims from obtaining justice.
These are not ordinary quirks of the justice process. They are evidence of a rotting criminal justice system. The trouble is that the lawmakers, judicial bodies, bar associations, […]
Although set to reopen the Thursday after Christmas vacation, the Best Bakery retial did not resume because witness Zaheera Sheikh was absent. After Zaheera’s lawyer said that she was not well, the court deferred her cross-examination to January 10.
If she had appeared, it would have been the first time Zaheera faced the prosecution since the […]
The Nanavati Commission investigating the 1984 massacres is preparing to submit its report to the Union Home Ministry by the end of the month.
“The evidence does indicate a pattern in which the riots took place and the pattern in which the attacks took place on the Sikhs,” Justice GT Nanavati said, refusing to elaborate […]