Zaheera guilty of perjury, sentenced to 3 months RI

MUMBAI: Finding Zaheera Shaikh guilty of giving false evidence in the Best Bakery case, a sessions court on Monday sentenced her to three months rigorous imprisonment and asked her to pay fine of Rs 500.

However, the three-month sentence would begin after Zaheera completes one year jail term she is currently serving in Byculla prison as per Supreme Court order for contempt of court.

Judge Abhay Thipsay also ordered Zaheera to undergo 10 days additional jail term in case of default for payment of fine. Before delivering the verdict on charges of perjury (giving false evidence), the judge asked Zaheera whether she had to say anything.

Zaheera said, “I do not wish to say anything.” Zaheera’s lawyer Umesh Deshpande said he would file an appeal in the Bombay High Court, soon. He said Zaheera had indicated to him about filing an appeal but a final decision would be taken after he meets her in jail this weekend.

Earlier, the court sentenced Zaheera’s mother Sehrunissa and sister Sahira to three months RI and imposed Rs 500 fine on each of them on similar charges of giving false evidence.

However, the court did not award punishment on Zaheera’s brother Nasibullah considering his young age. Zaheera and her family members had pleaded not guilty to the charges of giving false evidence in the Best Bakery case.

Judge Abhay Thipsay, while delivering the judgement in the Best Bakery case on February 24, had issued notices to Zaheera and others asking them to show cause why action should not be taken against them for giving false evidence.
Mr Thipsay has charged Zaheera with falsely stating in the court that she had not lodged the FIR regarding the Best Bakery incident and that she was unaware of the document (FIR) although it had her signature.

The judge also charged Zaheera with telling a lie during the re-trial that she had not told Vadodara court earlier about talking to police regarding the Best Bakery incident. He referred to Vadodara court proceedings which indicated that she had indeed told police about it.

Thipsay further charged Zaheera with making a false statement before him during re-trial that she was not aware of the outcome of verdict of Vadodara court which had acquitted the accused in Best Bakery case as she and other witnesses had turned hostile.

Explaining the charges to Zaheera, he said she had given a false statement that she was not aware of what happened to the case after it was over in Vadodara court and she had also falsely feigned ignorance about the reason as to why the case was being tried again in Mumbai.

The judge said Zaheera had turned around by initially stating in evidence that she had not named anyone as offender or culprit before any authority or the media but later saying on oath that she had named certain persons as offenders on being tutored by different persons.

The judge held that Zaheera had falsely stated that she was ignorant about the grievances made by her on the conduct of previous trial and also about the Supreme Court ordering the re-trial in view of such grievances.

As regards Zaheera’s sister Saheera, the judge said she had made contradictory statements by saying that nobody stayed in the house that was built by the side of Best bakery and later asserting that her entire family stayed in the same house. One of the statements was false, the judge noted.

The court pointed out that Saheera had feigned ignorance about the death of her sister Sabira saying she was unaware about the reason of her death but later admitted she had died in the riots. In this regard, she had lied to the court.

The judge charged Saheera with falsely stating that she did not know the names of Best Bakery workers and had also not named them during deposition in the previous trial in the Vadodara court. He referred to Vadodara court records which showed that she had given the names of the workers.

Thipsay also told her that she had falsely stated that she was unaware about Zaheera lodging a complaint with police about Best Bakery catching fire on March 1, ’02.

About Nasibullah, the judge said during the re-trial, he had denied making a statement in Vadodara court about police obtaining signature on his statement.

However, the original records show that he had stated this to that court. Hence, he had given false evidence.
Thipsay charged Zaheera’s mother Sahrunissa with telling a pack of lies to the court during the re-trial.

Citing an example, he said Sahrunissa had falsely stated that her daughter-in-law Yasmin Shaikh was not present when the Best Bakery was set afire.