NEW DELHI, Nov 21: India’s Supreme Court on Friday halted all trials stemming from last year’s communal violence in the western state of Gujarat, criticizing the slow pace of prosecution by the state’s Hindu nationalists.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the Supreme Court had halted judicial proceedings in at least 10 major cases pending before the courts in Gujarat.

The ruling came during the hearing of a joint petition filed by India’s autonomous National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and 17-year-old Zaheera Sheikh to reopen the trial of 21 Hindus acquitted in the Best Bakery case.

Ms Zaheera’s father died along with 11 other workers when the his father’s Best Bakery was torched during the sectarian violence that raged for months last year and claimed the lives of some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

Ms Zaheera says she and many other witnesses retracted their incriminating testimony at the trial because they were threatened by local right-wing Hindu leaders. She has since fled Gujarat and wants India’s Supreme Court to hear her case outside of the state.

In a move that analysts say will help Ms Zaheera, the Supreme Court asked the province to explain why the Best Bakery case along with several others should not be heard outside Gujarat to ensure a speedy and fair trial.

Last month, the Supreme Court said Gujarat would have to obtain federal clearances for special public prosecutors appointed by the state administration to try those charged with slaying Muslims. The order was seen as a rebuke to the state’s Hindu nationalist BJP government.—AFP