Bakery witnesses will be protected: Gujarat police

The Gujarat police, in an affidavit before the Gujarat high court, on Thursday said it would provide protection to Best Bakery massacre witnesses, including those who had approached the Supreme Court.

The affidavit, filed by K Kumaraswamy, joint commissioner of police, Vadodara, said Yasminbano, a witness, had agreed to have police protection, while five others had refused it.

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Yasminbano is the sister-in-law of another witness, Zaheera Sheikh, who had petitioned the SC for a retrial in the case outside Gujarat.

The affidavit stated that police had providing protection to four witnesses each in Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, and one in Bihar.

On September 26 the HC had asked the director general of police to file affidavits in connection with protection to witnesses after Zaheera and three others had approached the apex court saying they had "lied before the fast-track Court at Vadodara during trial out of fear for our lives".

Thirty-seven of the 73 witnesses, including Zaheera, had turned hostile during the trial, leading to the acquittal all 21 accused in the case.