Nearly 16 years after the 1992-93 Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai,a sessions court on Wednesday acquitted Farooq Mapkar, accused in the Hari Masjid firing case.
Mapkar was booked for unlawful assembly and rioting inside the Masjid in south Mumbai. 22 other accused in the
case had been acquitted by the sessions court earlier.
However, Mapkar's trial was separated from the case and was later transferred to a special riots court constituted to hear 1992-93 riots cases.
The court while acquitting Mapkar observed that the prosecution has failed to prove its case before the court and showed serious discrepancies. The court also observed that there was no new evidence against Mapkar.
Defence advocates Yug Choudhary and Shakil Ahmed appearing for Mapkar had argued that he should be acquitted on grounds of parity as the other accused have also been acquitted on the same charges levelled against Mapkar.
On January 10, 1993, a group of five to six
police officers led by then assistant police inspector Nikhil Kapsehad entered the Masjid and opened fire.
Mapkar, who was offering Namaz, was shot on his abdomen when he tried to escape. Six persons were killed in
the firing.Pending his trial, Mapkar had approached the Bombay High court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry into the firing.
A few weeks ago, the high court had directed a CBI enquiry to be initiated against Kapse. While the Maharashtra government was ready to hand over the case, the CBI on several occasions told the high court that its hands were full and it cannot investigate a 15-year-old case in which a Special Task Force had already given the police a clean chit.
However, following the high court directions, the CBI plans to expedite the investigation and file an FIR within 15
days.
The Srikrishna Commission set up to look into the riot cases had held Kapse "guilty of unjustified firing" and "inhuman brutal behaviour".