Justice Pasayat Vs. Zahira Sheikh

A Supreme Court judge exercises his absolute power to take revenge and carry on a blatant political agenda

Here is a link to the full text of the Judgement delivered by Arijit Pasayat. It is a ludicrous judgement that tarnishes the image of the highest court of the country. It puts a huge question mark over the competence and impartiality of our judges. It targets a poor hostile witness like never before.
 

The Supreme Court Judgement that sentenced Zahira Shiekh to one year imprisonment and Rs.50,000 fine for contempt of court

A Supreme Court judge has written a seventeen page judgement over a contempt of court case?  After16 pages of beating about the bush and having cited and quoted all kinds of examples from the shashtras, literature, and sundry judicial pronouncements and opinions of ancient and modern times, Pasayat sends Zahira Shiekh behind bars for one year in an unprecedented example of bigoted and insane judicial activism.

The entire case against the poor girl has been made out on the basis of a dubious enquiry report presented by the Registrar General of the Court. It is largely based on the contents of ‘Teheleka CD’, and patently misleading and motivated reports in the media.  The enquiry did not even care to investigate into Zahira’s charge that she was coerced and induced by Teesta Setalvad and Raees Khan to move to the Supreme Court with the complaint that she could not give her testimony in the Vadodara court of her own free will. However, it surmises that Zahira’s change of stance has something to do with a few lakhs worth of unexplained assets of her family, including her own.

If you recall, the Teheleka CD emerged out of thin air in Tejpal’s hurriedly called press conference a few days before Zahira was to appear before Thipsey’s court for her testimony. The CD disappeared after that. It was merely used as a ploy to vitiate and delay the proceedings of the trial court to buy time to evolve a new prosecution strategy after it became evident that Zahira will not tow the line of the prosecution team. The CD was never examined forensically. Most of its content was non-decipherable. The sound bites came from a Congress leader and it was pure conjecturing. The transcript of the CD also disappeared from the media after a few days. Yet it was used to delay Zahira’s testimony in the retrial. The CD was never presented as evidence anywhere. The experts never examined it. Tejpal has not produced the promised ‘many more hours of incriminating material’ till date. The whole episode was designed for PR mileage at a crucial stage to put pressure on Zahira to do the bidding of Teesta Setalvad and Manjula Rao, the public prosecutor in the retrial of the Best Bakery Case. Zahira did not wilt under the huge pressure of the media and the mullhas and stood firm and hostile to the prosecution in the most bizarre retrial of a criminal case in the recent history of the civilised world.

However, the enquiry committee and an earlier order of Pasayat used the CD’s unverifiable, undecipherable, untested, and uninvestigated content to draw some damning conclusions and point a finger of suspicion and guilt at Zahira. Passayat ordered Zahira and her family members to submit the details of their assets after the CD episode. In his final order also, he gives open hints to the Income Tax department to investigate Zahira’s bank accounts; a record of the same had already been given to the enquiry committee and it could discover just a few lakhs of unexplained investments. He also orders the freezing of the accounts of Zahira and her kith and kin to facilitate the work of IT officials. In fact, he tries to negate and nullify an important finding of the committee by this order. The committee’s report had absolved Madhu Srivastav of bribing Zahira. Pasayat again entangles Madhu Srivastav in the case. He also declares that any report or submission of NHRC cannot be challenged.
 

Both, the committee and Pasayat, conveniently and stealthily brush aside Zahira’s charges against Teesta and Raees Khan. They brazenly take cognisance of non-facts and ignore the reality that it was a wily Teesta Setalvad and Raees Khan who induced Zahira to approach the Supreme Court. They also digress from simple judicial proprieties. They treat the Vakalatnama of the lawyer of Zahira, appointed by Teesta, as a basis to charge Zahira of misrepresentation. Unsubstantiated media reports also form a substantial basis of their conclusions. Passayat invents arguments that suit his predetermined pronouncement.

Pasayat cites some of the findings of the high powered enquiry committee to find justification for the harsh sentence. The committee had worked hard to find the traces of the money Zahira may have been paid to turn hostile. They got almost nothing. The poor girl and her family had just a few lakhs worth property, largely created out of the money received as compensation from the government for the death of her near and dear ones in the Best Bakery carnage. There is an amount that is explained as the money received from the sale of scrap at the bakery. The Committee does not accept the explanation. Finally, they find a GLARING GAP of a little over two lakhs of rupees between the money received and assets owned by the family. It promptly becomes a proof that money must have played a hand in Zahira’s flip-flop. It is a bizarre conclusion that does not even corroborate the content of Tejpal’s dubious CD which claimed Zahira was paid 18 lakhs for the flip-flop. It also mentions things like Madhu Srivasatv may have threatened Zahira since he called her brother first and he was present during the proceedings of the Vadodara fast track court. It is wild conjecturing that has nothing to do with facts and real evidence. Funnily, the committee adds that it has no evidence to prove that Madhu Srivastav paid any money to Zahira.
 

Yet, this nonsensical non-evidence, that will be thrown out of the window even by a greenhorn trial court judge without delay, forms the crux of the judgement of a learned, experienced, and LITERARILY INCLINED Supreme Court Judge whose vast knowledge base includes ancient scriptures, and mythology. He cites opinions and arguments from all over to put a girl -- who is being called a liar for failing to identify the killers of her family in a crowd of a few thousand rioters at the dead of the night -- behind bars.

The committee’s report smacks of a conspiracy to use the Best Bakery Case to score political points. It is evident from the nature and manner of references that have been made in it. The report refers to the expenses incurred during Zahira’s stay in some place and expresses the doubt whether the Gujarat government that had footed the bill. It talks about some organisation that is seemingly funding Zahira to fight the case. What about Teesta’s sources of funding and the way she tom-tommed Zahira before the media and the Supreme Court, with a whole lot of celebrity socialites in her tow? Who funded that drama? One wishes similar enquiries are made about the expenses incurred by the Mumbai police and the CBI on Abu Salem’s upkeep and security and the sources of funding of his defence team.
 

It won’t be done. Vilasrao Deshmukh is not the target here, Modi is. Anyway, Salem is not as dangerous as Zahira in the eyes of the secularists. He organises bomb blasts, and kills for money. Teesta Setalvad considers his heinous deeds as a valid expression of Muslim angst for which Hindutva forces are to be blamed. Zahira, who refuses to testify against Hindus to have them hanged, is a crafty criminal. If she speaks for Teesta’s cause, it is all truth, otherwise she deserves to be harassed and punished. If Zahira has not wilted under this kind of extreme pressure and punishment, she is really a brave girl. It would have been so much more convenient and profitable for her to tow Teesta’s and Pasayat’s line.

Something really shocking happened a few days after the SC judgement. Zahira remained untraceable for two days after the judgement. The media shouted from the rooftop about this as if the girl was absconding and running away from the arms of the law. Apparently, Zahira was found to be staying in a Bhayendar flat. She panicked. People advised her brother that Teesta Madam might help her. The Teesta camp told her to contact Manjula Rao. She promptly advised her to surrender before Thipsey. Zahira surrendered in a hush hush manner. Thipsey sent her to police custody. Media mentioned that Zahira spoke to Thipsey and Rao in camera and broke down in front of them. A few days later, Rao appeared on the RKB show of Sahara Samay, Mumbai. She called Zahira a smart and crafty girl (as opposed to being an innocent teenager) and admitted a fact that should be good enough to dismiss her as a public prosecutor and also debar her from practising law for unbecoming and wrongful conduct.

Rao informed RKB that she asked Zahira to tell the truth even at this stage of the case which might save her from perjury charges .
 

What truth and whose truth? Rao’s truth? Teesta’s truth? Thipsey’s truth? Pasayat’s truth? Tejpal’s truth? Javed Akhtar’s truth? Barkha Dutt’s truth? Zahira had already testified and given her version of the truth. How can a public prosecutor ask and induce a hostile witness to tell a ‘new’ truth in this manner outside the court? In fact, Rao was asking Zahira to commit perjury NOW. And if Thipsey too advised Zahira to do this, he should be taken off the case and dismissed as well. It is highly improper. It is called tutoring the witness. But why was Rao asking Zahira to change her testimony now? And she did it knowing it well that it won’t help Zahira legally. Rao had already done her job and secured the conviction of the nine Best Bakery accused on fake grounds. Yet, she stays so pro-active in the case. What was Rao’s objective here?

Rao’s and Teesta’s objective could have been just one; to use a scared Zahira one more time as their PR tool and to go for some fresh target practice. It was a cleverly plotted conspiracy. However, Zahira finally refused to be swayed by the clandestine overtures of Rao and Teesta. Her lawyers got in touch with her and they must have put things  in the proper perspective.

Why did Rao act with such alacrity at the behest of Teesta Madam and try to ensnare Zahira like this? Teesta is not an ordinary activist now. She is the all-powerful woman who can even move the Supreme Court judges with her charming persona enhanced amply by ‘media ke yaar film stars’ around her. Her voice and opinions matter to the ruling dispensation at the centre and the state as she is part of important government committees. She can be helpful in so many ways to Rao. She might get her an important judicial appointment some day. Who knows, Rao may even become a Supreme Court judge in the mould of Pasayat. If nothing else, she would be hobnobbing with the likes of Mahesh Bhatt, Shabana Aazami, and Javed Akhtar. That is a big privilege. So, she does Teesta’s bidding and plays games with a girl hounded by the media, the secularists, the Islamists, and a media-driven, obviously biased, opinionated, politicised judiciary.

The real issues are being obscured. None is talking about how the arrests and investigations are carried out in riot cases and how false cases are lodged and witnesses are created to arrest innocent people for the sake of records. The real issue is the reformation of the style and work approach of our Police and training the Police personnel as professional investigators. Whatever law you have, you cannot expect a poorly educated beat constable to generate quality evidence to prosecute a murder case successfully.
 

The community of lawyers and judges are aware of this. They are aware of how witnesses are tutored and how at times the police extract testimonies using third degree methods. Suddenly, we find that everyone is baying for the blood of witnesses. Bina Ramani says she feels like an accused in the Jessica case.  People are being forced to become witnesses by courts that issue non-bailable summons to them. An impression is being created that a witness dare not speak anything other than what the prosecution would like him/her to say. There is an idiot called T.R. Andhyanrujina, a former Solicitor General, who suggests that Judges should act as inquisitors and not adjudicators. He is echoing the words of Khare, the ex-CJI, who declared that the judiciary also has to act as the prosecuting agency in the Best Bakery case. These are the kind of deranged and opinionated minds we have in our judicial community and look at how the Media applauds the preposterous pronouncements of these idiots.

What about Pasayat? He is the worst example of an activist judge. He should be doing the lowly job of a hangman. The Best Bakery PIL and retrial will one day be regarded as one of the horrific blunders committed by the Indian judiciary. One is surprised at the silence of eminent jurists here. What is going on? The law and its due processes are being subverted to please the TV News channels and the likes of Sonia Gandhi.
 

It is exactly the way some of the entertainment TV channels choose their singing idols. They are called Indian Idols. Talent does not matter so long as you have got the popular vote through emails and SMSs. Likewise, justice will be done by popular vote now. NDTV will decide who the real murderer is and the judges will be there to endorse the popular view. Investigations, facts of the case, and witnesses (hostile or otherwise) will have no meaning. SMSs will deliver the verdict and telecom companies will do a roaring business.

It will be some democracy, the SMS democracy. It will be some judiciary, the SMS judiciary. Our courts will be converted into TV studios. Pranoy Roys, Barkha Dutts, Rajat Sharmas, and others of their ilk will preside over these courts. Pasayat and Khare may join them too. They will hang every riot accused with a Hindu name and acquit every innocent looking, and English-speaking terrorist with a doctorate in assembling and detonating explosive devices. Popular film stars will be granted freedom to kill and maim black bucks, and pavement dwellers. The posters of Javed Akhtar, Mahesh Bhatt, Teesta Setalvad, Shabana Aazami, and 'Rang De Basanti' will adorn the walls of these studio courts as great symbols of justice.

Now we know, the guy who called a TV set an idiot box was a true seer and a genius.

Other related links:-

Best Bakery Judgement is a mockery and murder of justice

Why is the Supreme Court being selective in dispensing justice?

Khare says that the Supreme Court will play the role of a prosecutor as well as the judge in case of Gujarat riot cases. What about playing the role of a hangman too Justice Khare?

The Best Bakery Case returns to haunt the Supreme Court

When the judges of the highest court in the land go bonkers

Muslim body declares Zahira a pariah.