The state government faced the ire of the Bombay High Court for not handing over to CBI the enquiry of the Hari Masjid police firing case of 1993 for over three months.
The state government faced the ire of the Bombay High Court on Monday for not handing over to CBI the enquiry of the Hari Masjid police firing case of 1993 for over three months.
Justices SB Mhase and Amjad Sayed came down on the state government for delaying the probe. “This is shielding the police officer in a different manner,” said Mhase.
Farooq Mapkar, who was chargesheeted for murder and rioting in 1992-93, had urged the court to order investigations against assistant police inspector Nikhil Kapse, who had allegedly opened fire at a group of people at Hari Masjid in Sewree during the 1993 riots. Six persons had died in the firing. On October 10, 2007, the government had submitted a letter to the court saying it had decided to hand over the enquiry to the CBI.
The court asked the public prosecutor Satish Borulkar to inform the court about when the government intended to hand over the enquiry to the CBI. The court, however, made it clear that the government had only two weeks to hand over the enquiry.
The court said the government had the option of a departmental enquiry and criminal prosecution against Kapse. However, it had not weighed the option of criminal prosecution after the departmental enquiry had exempted him. Calling the government’s act a “camouflaging show” the court asked the reason why it had not opted for criminal prosecution.
While the Special Task Force (STF) investigating the case had found no evidence against Kapse, the Srikrishna Commission report had held him “guilty of unjustified firing” and “inhuman and brutal behaviour”. Borulkar, however, said the government had not taken criminal action yet as the issue of whether to take into account STF’s findings was pending in the Supreme Court.
j_mayura@dnaindia.net
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