New Delhi: The Gujarat government on September 1 termed as "misconceived" a petition filed by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking transfer of Best Bakery, Godhra train carnage and two other riot related cases to a place outside the state for fair trial.

The petition filed in August by the Human Rights body was treated as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by the Supreme Court for improvement of the criminal justice system in the country.

The Court had indicated that it would monitor the appeal filed by Gujarat government challenging the acquittal of all 21 accused in the Best Bakery incident. It had also directed the state to provide full protection to witnesses, victims and their relatives.

The state government, in its reply affidavit filed through advocate Hemantika Wahi, stated that it has provided adequate security to those witnesses in riot cases who agreed to accept such arrangements.

The affidavit stated that while some of the witnesses have accepted security, others have stated that they would request for the same as and when they would require it.

The five-page counter filed by the government is accompanied by 301 documents including the grounds of appeal filed by the state in the High Court, the statement of the witnesses in the Bakery case.

The documents also included the statements of key witness Zahira who had first accused several persons of indulging in arson leading to death of many in the Bakery but had retracted her statement during the trial.

PTI