Miss Zahira approached the National Human Rights Commission on 11th July and made a statement before it. Among other things, she stated that under threat to her life and the life of the remaining members of her family, she had resiled in the Trial Court from the earlier statements made by her. She sought the help of the Commission to reopen the Best Bakery Case. The Statement has been placed on record by the Commission.



At a meeting of the Full Commission here on 11th July, an interim report submitted by the Commission’s team which visited Vadodara on 8 July 2003 was also considered. As the materials collected by the team were voluminous in nature and written in Gujarati, the team submitted an interim report requesting, among other things, that it be given further time in which to translate and examine the materials and to submit its report to the Commission. The Commission agreed to that request and directed that the report be submitted expeditiously.



The Commission also decided to request some eminent lawyers to examine the entire record for their advice on the future course of action.



Given the seriousness of the issues involved in the order of acquittal in the “Best Bakery Case”, it will be recalled that the Commission, through its Proceedings of 3rd July 2003, instructed a team to proceed to Vadodara to inspect the records of the case, examine the judgement and all other relevant materials and submit a report to the Commission within one week. The team, comprising Shri Ajit Bharihoke, Registrar, Shri Sudhir Chowdhury, DIG (Investigation), and Shri P.G.J. Nampoothiri were in Vadodara on 8 July 2003 and brought back with them the relevant materials pertaining to the Best Bakery Case.