critical of the police for delay in registering FIR and for not investigating the incident properly and harassing innocent people, including the accused. Reactions A large section of the press expressed outrage for a prolonged period at the acquittals. It was reported that key witnesses in the case had lied in court out of fear for their lives as they had been given death threats. Key witnesses in the case include the wife and daughter of the bakery owner. They accused party politicians of threatening and harassing them into withdrawing their testimony. According to their testimony to the police and the National Human Rights Commission, 500 people had attacked the bakery. Amnesty International criticized the judgment as "the lack of government commitment to ensuring justice to victims of the communal violence in Gujarat." India's National Human Rights Commission described it as a "miscarriage of justice" and, along with other petitioners, argued that the case should be investigated by an independent agency. The Supreme court expressed displeasure at the acquittal. The Gujarat government responded by pointing out many other cases where the guilty were left unpunished. Solicitor General Mukul Rohatgi cited the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and said many of the accused are still free. Re-trial and hostile witnesses Soon after the sessions court judgement, Zaheera and her mother gave interviews to the media stating that they had lied in court. On 5 July 2003, Zaheera and her mother told The Sunday Express that Zaheera had lied in court because she had received death threats. On 7 July 2003, Zaheera told the media that Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA Madhu Srivastava and his cousin, Congress councilor Chandrakant Srivastava were behind the threats, hence she sought a re-trial outside Gujarat. Due to this, media coverage and protests by several citizens groups, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visited Vadodara on 8 July to examine documents related to the case. The NHRC moved a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court on 31 July 2003 asking for a retrial outside Gujarat. Aware of media outrage, three Supreme Court judges ordered the head of Gujarat police and the chief secretary of Gujarat to appear before the court in order to explain their actions in the incident. Chief Justice VN Khare said he had "no confidence" in the Gujarat government, while the Indian Supreme Court criticized the government and ordered a retrial. The Supreme Court