This has been a very high-profile case in India …
India’s Supreme Court has issued a rare prison sentence to a woman for perjury in a high-profile murder case arising from the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.
Zahira Sheikh was the prosecution’s main witness in what came to be known as the Best Bakery trial.
The court found her guilty of lying in court. Her whereabouts are unclear.
Last month, a special court sentenced nine people to life in prison for burning 14 people to death in the notorious attack on the Best Bakery.
Zahira Sheikh has also been ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 rupees ($1,000). If she fails to pay, the court said she would have to spend another year in jail.
She has not been seen since the trial last month.
Twelve Muslims and two others were burned to death when the bakery was attacked by a Hindu mob in the Gujarati city of Baroda.
The violence was sparked by the death of 59 Hindus after allegations that a Muslim mob attacked and set fire to a train in the town of Godhra.
Eyewitnesses at the time, including Zahira Sheikh, said a Hindu mob attacked the bakery with swords and petrol bombs and burned it down.
A court in Gujarat acquitted all the accused in the original trial after Ms Sheikh retracted her testimony.
But after she said she had been threatened by local politicians, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial outside Gujarat, saying a free and fair trial was not possible in the state.
But she once again changed her testimony, alleging this time that she had been coerced by her lawyer to give forced statements in court.
A committee set up by the Supreme Court said it believed she had been bribed to turn hostile in court.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court judges said that the “interest of the society is not to be treated with disdain”.
Zahira Sheikh’s former lawyer, Teesta Setalvad, said by changing her statement in the case, “Zahira had played with serious issues”.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the Gujarat riots in 2002, among the worst violence India has seen since partition in 1947.
The state administration was heavily criticised for failing to prevent the violence.
The Sabarmati Express was carrying Hindu pilgrims returning from the disputed holy site at Ayodhya when it was allegedly attacked and set on fire. But last week, an inquiry conducted by the rail ministry concluded that the fire was an accident, although this view is being challenged by the main opposition BJP.