By CNN-IBN,
New Delhi/ Mumbai: A CNN-IBN investigation has uncovered that the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots were a well-planned pogrom during which policemen and politicians became rioters.
People whom the Justice B N Srikrishna commission has indicted now admit that the panel’s findings are correct. The investigation found that successive governments in Maharashtra have not been serious about punishing the guilty politicians and policemen.
Who ordered and organised the riots and is there a chance that the guilty will be now brought to justice? Stench of Truth, a special show, conducted by CNN-IBN’s Rajdeep Sardesai in Delhi and Ruksh Chatterji in Mumbai asked this to a panel comprising a former police official, a social activist, politicians and lawyers.
The law runs riot
The Srikrishna commission indicted 31 police officials for the riots but none of them was given a severe punishment. How did this happen?
Social activist Teesta Setalvad and former Mumbai Police chief M N Singh said the police force was communalised during the riots but their version of how this happened differed.
“There is no doubt that during the riots the police force was communalised to an extent. There was complete communal polarization in the society preceding the demolition of the Babri Masjid and thereafter. If certain sections of the police force were also affected by the communal virus then I don’t it should surprise anybody. But these very few people—just a few constables—who were able to get hold of wireless sets and sent indecent messages to their colleagues. This doesn’t mean the entire Mumbai Police was communalised,” said Singh.
Setalvad rejected Singh’s theory that there were just a few bad cops during the riots. “The action of the police, from the top to the bottom, was complicit if not explicit in not preventing the violence. A small section of the police was responsible for the filthy wireless messages but communal behaviour was evident in large section of the force,” said Setalvad.
Singh agreed that top police officials didn’t do enough to stop the riots and should be held responsible for the actions of their junior colleagues. But why then didn’t the police find the officials who sent out communal wireless messages?
Singh said it was a “difficult” task. “In that surcharged atmosphere, when things were so fluid, it was very difficult to find out those policemen when you are busy dealing with the communal situation,” he said adding that guilty police officers must be punished.
What then of the 31 police officials who were indicted by the Srikrishna Commission but were never properly punished?
Sub Inspector Nikhil Kapse fired on people praying in a mosque in Central Mumbai on January 10, 1993. Six people died but instead of being sent to jail Kapse was promoted as Inspector.
“If that is the case action should be taken against him If anybody has committed murder he should be treated at par with an ordinary killer,” said Singh.
“I feel ashamed at the behaviour of the policemen who used abusive language and who showed communal bias. I strongly feel that they should be punished and brought to book. But it is wrong to show that no action has been taken and that the entire police force of Mumbai was communalised,” he said.
No politician indicted
CNN-IBN’s investigation proves that Shiv Sena activists and leaders took part in the riots and attacked Muslims. But like the police, they too were never brought before justice. The BJP-Shiv Sena government after the riots rejected the Srikrishna report.
Manohar Joshi was Maharashtra’s Chief Minister when the Srikrishna report was scrapped. He later became the Lok Sabha Speaker and is now a Shiv Sena MP. Does he regret or feel guilty that no action was taken against policemen or politicians accused of rioting?
“It is not true that no action was taken against the police. The (Srikrishna) report was not accepted by the state Assembly,” said Joshi.
Only one policeman was one transferred and 31 were transferred—is that punishment? “It is not clearly proven that the police were responsible for all this (violence). There was a debate in the Assembly for two days and after that the House was convinced that there was no reason for acting on the (Srikrishna) report. I think we should respect that. If the Congress was unhappy why it didn’t move a privilege notice or take action when it was in power,” said Joshi.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Desmukh rejected Joshi’s allegation that the Congress didn’t take any action on the report. “The commission has spoken about only 31 police officials. All those 31 cases have been tackled by the STF and proper action has been taken. It is not that we taken action on the 31 cases mentioned in the Srikrishna report,” said Desmukh, adding that his government was expediting 300 other riot cases.
Desmukh rejected allegations that the Congress-NCP government has not implemented the report. The CM said he was “absolutely” committed to implementing the report.
A chance for justice?
Senior lawyers Harish Salve and Kapil Sibal, who is also the Union Science and Technology Minister, were on the show to give their opinion on whether the riot victims will ever get justice and the rioters punished. And shockingly both of them were pessimistic.
“Every time a riot happens the political stratagem is to set up a commission but these things don’t require a commission. You should immediately fire a FIR, get hold of the accused, get the evidence and prosecute him. The whole reason to set up a commission is to ensure that there is no prosecution,” said Sibal.
Salve was blunt—he said the riot victims would never get justice. “Have the 1984 Delhi riots victims got justice? Is anybody in Gujarat going to get justice? No! Why? Because politicians have destroyed the police,” said Salve.
“There is sufficient evidence and there sufficient eyewitnesses in the Mumbai riots cases but they are scared,” said Salve.
There is evidence against the Mumbai rioters but no political will to punish them, said the lawyers.
Source: CNN IBN