Minority panel slams police

Attacking the police for its handling of the Dhule violence which killed six, the state minority commission has alleged that the police’s conduct during the unrest showed its biasness with the conflagration turning into a police versus Muslims fight.

It has called for a time-bound judicial probe and questioned claims about the police being attacked with acid by the rioters.

Maharashtra minority commission chairman Munaf Hakim, who visited Dhule, said that the riots would have been doused if the police had acted in time to quell the altercation between the two communities. The commission’s report submitted to the state government said that “during the curfew many shops were being looted, and it was seen that the said riot was not Hindu-Muslim but had turned into police (versus) Muslims.”

Hakim said it was necessary to examine who ordered the police firing and demanded that the guilty be punished. Seeking government aid for the victims, the commission sought that the mohalla committees, which did not come forth to quell the riots, be reconstituted. It has sought a judicial probe and the report submitted in a month.