TV Report
Mumbai, March 11: Zaheera Sheikh, the witness who turned hostile in the Best Bakery case, surrendered to a court at Mazgaon in Mumbai on Friday afternoon.
Zaheera has been sent to judicial custody till March 13. She had been absconding ever since the Supreme Court sentenced her to one year in jail two days ago.
Her sister Saheera Sheikh has also been served a court notice for turning hostile.
Editor, Communalism Combat, Teesta Setalvad, who had been supportive of Zaheera all through her legal struggle, says that targeting Zaheera takes the spotlight away from those guilty in the Gujarat riot case.
The social activist told CNN-IBN, "It is a welcome step that she surrendered because the fact that she did not give herself up to the legal process could work against her further. Now, that she has surrendered the legal process will take its course. But the story is not over yet."
Setalvad added that had Zaheera not been misguided, "February 28 would have been her victory".
"The conduct of some of the lawyers, both in Bombay and in Vadodara, those who were a part of the misleading, is a shocking case of professional misconduct," she said.
On Wednesday night, a special team of Gujarat police team had raided her sister Tahira Sheikh's house in Mumbai in search of Zaheera. The special team served a notice on Zaheera's brother-in-law.
Earlier, a trial court in Mumbai had sentenced nine accused in the Best Bakery case to life in prison just two weeks back.