Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The Mumbai session court on Tuesday acquitted two accused, Harshad Solanki and Mafat Gohil, of all charges in Gujarat’s 2002 Best Bakery case.
Additional Sessions Judge MG Deshpande acquitted Solanki and Gohil of all charges, according to media reports. They were facing charges including murder, destruction of evidence and attempt to murder, under Indian Penal Code.
Both Solanki and Gohil were absconding when the other accused faced trial. A separate trial for them was initiated after their arrest.
The Best Bakery case was one of the anti-Muslim episodes that took place on March 1, 2002, in Vadodara when a mob of around 1,000 people belonging to Hindu community attacked Best Bakery and killed 14 including 11 Muslims and three Hindu employees. Several others were injured also.
The attack was part of a larger wave of violence against Muslims that erupted in Gujarat in 2002.
The case was initially investigated by the Gujarat police, but their investigation was widely criticised as being biased and incomplete. The case was then transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed charges against 21 people.
The matter was first heard in a local court in Gujarat, where all 19 accused were acquitted in 2003. The matter went to Gujarat High Court, which also acquitted the accused.
One of the victims, Zahirabibi Shaikh, moved the Supreme Court, which accepted her plea and remanded the matter to Maharashtra. The apex court ordered reinvestigation by the police and retrial in a Mumbai court.
When the matter was being heard in the Vadodara court, Solanki and Gohil were absconding. Both of them were later declared absconders by Mumbai court also.
Following their arrest, they were brought before the court in 2013. In 2018, the court rejected their bail plea. The duo claimed in their application that they were unaware of the retrial, and their absence should not be considered as proof against them. A separate trial for them was ordered that began in 2019.