Human Rights activist Teesta Setalvad said on Monday that she was relieved following the clean chit given to her by a Supreme Court-appointed committee of charges of inducement levelled against her by the key witness in Best Bakery case Zaheera Sheikh.

"My stand remains vindicated," Setalvad said, adding that the committee had itself expressed the fact that Zaheera was being inconsistent and not telling the truth.

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"The entire period was a trying period for us till the inquiry was over and since the Court has given its statement today, we can speak," she said, adding that as the case was a high-profile one, the result was encouraging.

"Almost in 60 per cent of the cases, the witnesses turn hostile. We, human rights activists, have been insisting on witness protection and implementation of police reforms," Setalvad said.

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"From the Best Bakery case, we can move on to improve the criminal justice system and today's Supreme Court's statement could be taken as a stepping stone in evolving further in the CJS," she added.