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Mumbai riots: SC seeks affidavit on action taken against cops indicted by inquiry panel

Supreme Court has sought an affidavit from Secretary (Home) and Maharashtra Government within a period of 4 weeks on action taken against the police officials indicted by the Commission of Inquiry which investigated the Mumbai riots of 1992-1993.

Supreme Court
Supreme Court

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Published : Feb 11, 2020, 8:07 PM IST

New Delhi: The Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra was directed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday to apprise it of the action taken against the police officers who were allegedly indicted by the Commission of Inquiry that probed the Mumbai riots of 1992-1993.

The apex court noted that despite the fact that the commission headed by Justice BN Srikrishna filed its report in 1998, the state governments have consistently done nothing to implement the recommendations made in the report and "did not obey in letter and spirit" the orders of the top court.

"We direct Secretary (Home), Maharashtra Government, to file detail response in respect of each police officer mentioned in the chart (annexed with the report) about the criminal and disciplinary action taken against them and also about police officers against whom no action has been taken," a bench headed by Justice R F Nariman said in the order.

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The Bench, also comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and V Ramasubramanian, said that "considering that this court's order was not obeyed in letter and spirit, we direct Secretary (Home), Maharashtra Government to file an affidavit within a period of four weeks without any delay."

The bench said that the affidavit will also state the details of the compensation for the victims made in the report and the quantum.

The apex court was dealing with several petitions filed since 1998 seeking direction for the implementation of the recommendations made in the Justice Srikrishna Commission report.

The order was passed after hearing senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for Mumbai-based lawyer Shakeel Ahmed.

Justice Srikrishna retired as the judge of the Supreme Court.

He was appointed to head the commission to inquire the December 1992 to January 1993 riots that shook Mumbai for over two months and at that time he was the sitting judge of the Bombay High Court.

The Commission was set up when there was Congress government in Maharashtra and it was disbanded in 1996 when Shiv Sena-BJP government came to power in 1995.

However, it was reconstituted in 1996 with terms of reference including the Mumbai Bomb blasts of March 1993.

The Srikrishna Commission report, submitted in April 1998, had indicted leaders of some political parties and police officers.

PTI report

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