By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net
Mumbai: What if not a mockery of justice that victims of the 1993 Mumbai riots wait for justice for 16 years but an accused is convicted and gets bail within an hour. This is what happened on 9th July in Mumbai when former Shiv Sena MP Madhukar Sarpotdar was convicted by a Special Court for his inflammatory speeches that led to rioting.
With the judgement, Sarpotdar, sitting MLA from Kherwadi, has become first leader from Shiv Sena to be convicted for his inflammatory speeches. He was convicted along with two other Shiv Sena activists, Jaywant Mahadev Parab and Ashoke Shinde in this case by Special Court Magistrate R C Bapat Sarkar. They were awarded a year’s simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 each. However, the magistrate granted them bail allowing them to appeal in a sessions court by August 16.
Sarpotdar and other two have been convicted under section 153-A of the IPC. They were convicted for rioting, unlawful assembly and “promoting enmity in different religious groups.”
According to media reports during the Bombay riots in Bandra, there were rumors of a Ganesh idol being desecrated in a temple in Bandra.
On December 27, 1992, Sarpotdar led a five thousand-strong mob through Nirmal Nagar and Kherwadi in Bandra to the Ganesh Temple. He made provocative speeches in the temple during the reinstallation of the Ganesh idol in that temple. Soon after, the mob turned violent and rioted.
The way some of the witnesses in this case behaved during the hearing reveal pressures on the witnesses as it was a high-profile case.
Out of six witnesses (five of them police officers) of this case, only three identified Sarpotdar. One of the witnesses, a police constable, told the court that he had lost his memory in 2004, and thereby won’t be able to recall the incident.
However, it was Inspector Madhav Khanolkar whose witness statements and support of the prosecution made the case strong against Sarpotdar. Now retired from the post, Khanolkar was on duty when the case was registered. He claimed that he had heard Sarpotdar and others making provocative speeches aimed at flaring the communal feelings of the Hindus against the Muslims.
The Shri Krishna Commission had also noted that Saptodar’s activity during the reinstallation ceremony of the Ganesh idol was communally provocative.
This was the most high profile of all the 148 riot cases of 1992-93 that have been reopened by the state government and sent for a trial to a special magistrate’s court.
It should be noted that this was only the third post-Babri Masjid demolition riot case in the city, which ended in conviction.