MUMBAI, 1 November 2007 — Acceding to the demand of the Muslim community, the Maharashtra government has decided to try 31 police officials named in the Srikrishna Commission report. Speaking to newsmen, R.R. Patil, state deputy chief minister and home minister, said that former Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Ram Tyagi and 30 other police officials would stand trial after investigations by a team of senior police officials. He said Muslim leaders had requested that former Additional Director General of Police V.N. Deshmukh head the investigative team.
Earlier, social activists led by journalist Teesta Setalvad called on the government to implement the commission report and suggested the names of six people they wanted to be among the investigators.
Patil told the activists that there was a constitutional bar to Deshmukh’s appointment to the committee as he had once served as the chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission. He, however, said that the state government would consider the names of six serving police officers as members of the committee.
Patil criticized the Muslim organizations that held a rally last Thursday in Mumbai demanding the implementation of the Srikrishna panel report. He said while some Muslim organizations were fighting for justice, others were only trying to draw political mileage out of the issue. “I agree that the Muslims feel that injustice has been done to them, which has also led to some misunderstandings between the Muslims and the government. The outbursts of the Muslims are not misplaced in view of the extensive destruction and losses in the 1992-93 Mumbai communal riots. It’s also a fact that in reality not many accused have been punished, and even today several cases are pending in the courts. It is in this perspective that we have requested the Bombay High Court to appoint fast track courts to handle these cases,” Patil added.
