By IANS,
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Friday upheld a lower court order absolving former Mumbai police commissioner R.D. Tyagi and nine other policemen of the charge of killing eight people in the Suleman Bakery firing case during communal riots in 1992-93.
Justice Mridula Bhatkar in her ruling said that even though the trial court had “rightly” termed the firing as “unnecessary”, there was insufficient evidence against Tyagi and the nine other accused to prove that they had a common intention to murder.
“Indeed it was a cruel and atrocious act on the part of the police. In the case of the communal riots, a humane and sensitive approach is expected. However, it should be within the legal framework,” Justice Bhatkar ruled.
on Jan 9, 1993, Tyagi, then the joint commissioner of police, learnt about consistent firing from the terrace of the building in which the Suleman Bakery was situated. The building in south Mumbai’s Paidhonie area also housed a madrassa and adjacent to the bakery was a mosque.
Tyagi reached there with reinforcements and encountered firing from the building terrace
After this, Tyagi – who later became the head of National Security Guard – ordered his men to break into the bakery which was locked from inside.
The police broke the bakery door and opened fire in which eight people were killed and another 12 injured. Barring some swords and sticks, the police did not recover any firearms from the premises.
Subsequently, the matter was investigated by the Justice B. N. Shrikrishna Commission whose report was later accepted by the Maharashtra Government.
In 2001, the state government lodged complaints against 18 policemen, including Tyagi in the bakery firing case, and charged them under Indian Penal Code for murder and other offences.
In 2003, all the accused moved application seeking discharge from the case in a trial court. The judge discharged 10 of the accused, including Tyagi, from the case.
Noorul Huda Maqbool Ahmed, who was injured in the firing, had challenged the sessions court order before the Bombay High Court.