Bombay High Court came down heavily on the government for not completing required formalities to handover Hari Masjid police firing case to CBI for investigation.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for not completing required formalities to handover Hari Masjid police firing case to CBI for investigation.
A division bench, comprising Justices S B Mhase and Amjad Sayyad, said, ''the state was only killing time and nothing else and was purposely doing it''.
During course of hearing on a petition filed by Farook Mohammed Kasim Mapkar, one of the victims of the police firing, Public Prosecutor Satish Borulkar on Tuesday informed the court that CBI had rejected state's proposal to investigate the Hari Masjid police firing case, which took place during communal riots in the city in December'92 and January '93.
The court also came down on Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil when it found that a fresh proposal for CBI investigation was pending in his office for more than a month. The state government had decided to handover the case to CBI in October last year, but the central agency had refused to takeover the investigations and informed the state of its decision on December 27, 2007.
The State had to face ire of the high court again, as the records, called by the court, revealed no formal proposal required under provisions of The Delhi Special Police Act to handover investigations to CBI, were not completed by the state government.
The court, therefore, directed both State and Union Government to make clear, by Wednesday, whether required notifications at state and central levels were issued and also directed the state to forward a fresh 'meticulous' proposal to the Union Government.
Mapkar moved the high court, seeking criminal prosecution against the police party, led by then police sub-inspector Nikhil Kapse, who had opened fire on Namazis assembled in Hari Masjid. Seven persons had died and seven others were injured in the January 10, 1993 police firing. Despite numerous attempts on part of the petitioner, the police did not file FIR against the policemen.
Kapse has been indicted by Justice Srikrishna Commission, which enquired into 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai, for 'unprovoked' police firing in Hari Masjid. Referring to the police firing, Justice Srikrishna Commission has observed in its report that, ''the police version of the story was totally unbelievable and fabricated'' and that ''PSI Kapse - presently working with the economic offences wing of the Mumbai police - not only suppressed facts but also fabricated records''.
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