BHOPAL, 7 March 2004 — A report on the 1992 Bhopal-Ujjain riots has come down heavily on the two district administrations and top police and government officials for failing to pre-empt mob violence in the wake of the Babri Mosque demolition in Ayodhya.
The report, tabled in the state legislature on Thursday, notes that the “grave failure” of the district administration not to enforce prohibitory orders under Section 144 on Dec. 6 resulted in large-scale rioting for the next two days. The Madhya Pradesh government disagrees with the findings of the inquiry on the role of some Congress politicians like Corporator Mohammed Sarwar and sitting North Bhopal MLA and former minister Arif Aqueel in fueling riots.
It accepted the inquiry’s observation about the role of the district magistrate but disagreed with its views of other officials.
In a statement, the government said there was no evidence in the report that these politicians instigated riots. No single political party or group has been blamed for triggering the riots, the worst the state capital and the town of Ujjain had seen.
In Bhopal 142 people were killed and 809 injured while in Ujjain 10 were killed and 137 injured. Millions of rupees’ worth of property was destroyed. According to the report, 358.7 million rupees worth of property was destroyed in Bhopal and 413 million rupees in Ujjain,.
The then district collector M.A. Khan and Superintendent of Police Subhash Atre failed to take pre-emptive action, the report says.
