HYDERABAD, 8 December 2003 — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu yesterday announced a judicial inquiry into the communal riots which have claimed half-a-dozen lives since Saturday night. In all, 24 others were injured in police firing, stabbing and stone-pelting incidents.
After going round the curfew-bound, riot-hit areas in the communally sensitive Old City and calling on the injured persons at Osmania General Hospital, Naidu told newsmen that he was ordering a judicial probe into the incidents.
The areas, which witnessed clashes overnight, and the adjoining localities coming under the limits of eight police stations have been brought under indefinite curfew. Terming the situation as tense but under control, Naidu said that no fresh incident of violence has been reported since morning.
He reviewed the situation with Home Minister T Devender Goud, Director General of Police S R Sukumara, Hyderabad Police Commissioner R P Singh and senior police officials at the Police Commissioner’s office in the old city. “Prima facie, the riots appear to be well-planned and engineered by some elements for their selfish ends,” he observed.
He refused to comment on the involvement of any politicians in the conspiracy but asserted that his government would deal firmly with those behind the trouble. “No matter who they are and how powerful they are, we are determined to deal firmly with them,” he said. He said that those indulging in violence would be booked under AP Control of Organised Crime Act.
Responding to injured persons’ complaints that police failed to act firmly and on time to prevent the violence, he said the judicial probe would cover all these aspects. “We will act if there is failure or laxity on the part of police,” he assured.
Narrating the sequence of events, the Chief Minister said the judicial probe would ascertain whether the trouble was pre-planned or spontaneous. “But it does not appear to have happened all of a sudden. The miscreants disrupted the power supply and then attacked houses,” he said.
The victims complained to Naidu that police plunged into action two hours after the rampaging mobs began attacking and burning the houses. They claimed that the attackers were armed with petrol and acid bombs.
While a group sought to mark protest by hosting a black flag, the rival group distributed sweets near a place of worship in Gowlipura on Saturday noon on the 11th anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid. This led to some tension. The police controlled the situation but violence suddenly broke out in Gowlipura and six adjoining localities around 9 p.m.
Naidu maintained that five people were killed in the violence. While two died of stabbing, three succumbed to injuries sustained in police firing. In all, 19persons received bullet injuries. Six others were injured in stone-pelting.
Three of the seriously injured have been shifted to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).
Responding to queries, he said the curfew imposed in the limits of eight police stations would be relaxed as early as possible. “The government’s intention is not to impose curfew but it was done to control the situation and we will relax it depending on the situation,” he explained..
He also ruled out compensation to the families of those killed or injured in the violence. “There may be one or two innocents among them. We will identify them for compensation,” he said, and announced assistance for the rehabilitation of those whose houses and shops were burnt or looted.
He refuted the opposition charge that his had failed to view seriously the violent incidents that had taken place in the city during last three weeks.
He asserted that such violence had never occurred ever since he took over as Chief Minister in 1995.
“Incidents like these will affect our efforts to develop Hyderabad as a world-class city,” he said and listed the steps taken during last few years for city’s all-round development.
The chief minister announced that a special police control room would be set up soon in the old city to ensure quick response for quelling violence. The proposal for the control room has been pending for a long time, he admitted.
