Supreme Court (SC) sentenced Zahira Sheikh for a year’s imprisonment for changing her deposed story made under oath many times and committing perjury in the “Best Bakery” case. Sheikh was a key witness in this 2002 case where a mob, incensed by the burning of Hindu pilgrims at Godhra by Muslims, stormed a Muslim-owned Bakery killing those inside and burning down the store. Many of those identified by other witnesses have been found guilty but Sheikh was a key witness who waffled on her story many times. She alleged that a human rights activist in Mumbai mentored her to doctor a story then she alleged that the threat of retribution by a Shiv Sena Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly threatened her to retract her story. In any case, she was sufficiently discredited to have her deposition thrown out. The bigger issue is whether the SC is making a strong statement against perjury by sentencing her and also how does this verdict shape the behavior of other entities such as corporations, politicians, actors, and cricketers who retract their stories as convenient. The open question is whether the SC will look at statements made to the media and later blaming the press for “misunderstanding,” “misrepresentation,” and “politically motivated” will automatically be considered perjury by default. After all, at least politicians take the oath to uphold the Constitution, and when they do break provisions of this oath, they do commit perjury. The classic example is the recent bounty killing call made by a serving Uttar Pradesh Minister of the Samajwadi Party. While he had broken many criminal and Constitutional provisions, he took cover under the media misrepresentation pretext to duck impeachment, recall, and eventual imprisonment. Similarly, while Indian law proscribes tobacco and alcohol advertising, Members of Parliament and prominent Indian tobacco and alcohol companies often have bogus products to advertise the banned substance through a process euphemistically called “surrogate advertising.” Will these be dragged under the same net as they have breached Indian laws that they have promised to follow during their incorporation?

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