By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: The Mumbai sessions court on 4th January absolved 10 Muslims, accused of rioting during the infamous 1992-93 Bombay riots that had erupted after the demolition of Babri Masjid, of all the charges as they were pronounced innocent after carrying the stigma for full 18 precious years of their life. Some of them were not even in their teens when they were made accused.
Judge S.J Markade announced: “Police could not prove the allegations against all the accused and the two witnesses of the case were the police themselves and both had different versions.”
The Mumbai Police had arrested these people on 29 and 30th December 1992 near Kurla Nagrik Sahkari Bank for allegedly pelting stones in Kurla, a central suburb of Mumbai.
Reacting to the verdict, Gulzar Azmi, Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, Maharashtra said: “Despite filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2007, the Government of Maharashtra could not fulfill its promise to take action against the riots culprits identified in the SriKrishna Commission Report but the same government is very active in filing cases against Muslims.”
Describing their sufferings in these 18 years, one of the accused said: “We had suffered a lot both monetarily and physically, and whenever any untoward incident happen or terror alerts were announced
in the city, police called us or even detained us as a precautionary
measures.”
In all, 21 people were made accused but only 10 were arrested and prosecuted in the court.