'93 Mumbai firing: 'File reply on plea'

The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to file its response in two weeks on an application seeking registration of an FIR against a sub-inspector in the 1993 Hari Masjid firing case.

The police had allegedly opened fire on a "mob" coming out of Hari Masjid in Central Mumbai on January 10, 1993, to maintain law and order in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition.

The firing, allegedly ordered by Sub-Inspector Nikhil Kapse, had led to the death of six persons and injuries to many.

A Division Bench of Justices R M S Khandeparkar and V K Tahilramani was hearing the petition filed by Farook Mapkar, who was part of the mob and arrested along with 49 others.

Mapkar has submitted that the complaint he filed against Kapse u/s 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) has not evoked any respone from the state.

The petition alleged that the Srikrishna Commission, which probed the Hari Masjid firing as part of its inquiry into the post-Babri riots in Mumbai, had held that there was a clash between Hindus and Muslims, and the police had deliberately suppressed the fact of presence of Hindu mob.

In fact, the commission had passed strictures against Kapse, according to Mapkar's petition.

On August 28, 2006, Mapkar had written a letter to the government authorities and sought that it be treated as an FIR, but to no avail.