A Sessions Court in Mumbai Tuesday acquitted two men arrested in connection with the 2002 Gujarat Best Bakery communal riots case. The court pronounced Harshad Solanki and Mafat Gohil not guilty and ordered their release

On March 1, 2002, 14 people were killed in Vadodara at Best Bakery after an attack by an over 1,000-strong mob during the communal violence in the state.

As Solanki and Gohil were absconding when the others were tried in the case, the trial against them was separated. They were brought before the Mumbai court in 2013 and the trial against them began in 2019.

The Gujarat Police had booked 21 people on charges of murder. In 2003, a court in Vadodara had acquitted all the accused. In 2004, the Supreme Court directed a retrial to be conducted outside Gujarat to ensure fairness of justice and directed it to be conducted in Mumbai.

In 2006, the Mumbai court concluded the trial and found nine people guilty on charges including murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment. In 2012, the Bombay High Court acquitted five of the nine, while confirming the punishment given to four. During the trial, the court had considered the testimonies of four eyewitnesses.

While Solanki and Gohil had faced trial before a Vadodara court, they were declared absconding when the retrial took place in Mumbai. Solanki and Gohil were brought before the Mumbai court in 2013 after their subsequent arrest. Their bail pleas were rejected by the court in 2018 when it had observed that prima facie there is sufficient evidence to prosecute them.

The court had also said that while they had claimed that they were not aware of the retrial, that ground cannot be considered as there was no proof. In 2019, the Mumbai court framed charges against them under sections including murder and the trial began.

The deposition of witnesses part of the earlier trial was used as evidence against them as per provisions of law since the case was separated on account of them being absconders. The court allowed them to cross-examine witnesses related to their identification as well as investigating officers.

Since 2019, 10 witnesses have been examined by special public prosecutor Manjula Rao. Lawyer Prakash Salsingikar representing Solanki and Gohil submitted during final arguments there was no evidence to show the two had committed the offences and that no witness had deposed about their specific role.