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Bombay cops brace themselves for violence

Syed Firdaus Ashraf

The Bombay police have geared up to avoid violence after Deputy Chief Minister and state Home Minister Gopinath Munde said the Srikrishna Commission report would be tabled in the assembly before the session winds up on August 7.

Dr P S Pasricha, joint commissioner of police (law & order), told Rediff On The NeT, "We are deploying additional Rapid Action Force and Central Industrial Security Force personnel to avoid any trouble in the city."

The Srikrishna Commission was a one-man inquiry committee appointed by the then Congress government to cover all aspects of the Bombay riots of 1992-93. The Commission was wound up by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in January 1996. The state government said the Commission was not serving any purpose since it was taking too long to submit its report.

However, the 13-day BJP government in May 1996 revived the Commission, asking the state government to incorporate findings regarding the bomb blasts of March 12, 1993.

Well before the Srikrishna Commission report is tabled in the assembly, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray told his party newspaper Saamna that Shiv Sena members would not cause any trouble but, if provoked, would retaliate. According to Thackeray, some gangsters wanted the city to flare up again so that they could take the advantage of the situation.

Dr Pasricha said, "After the bitter experience of 1992-93 I am sure Bombayites will prevent unscrupulous elements from taking advantage of the situation."

Former Bombay police commissioner S Sahney had formed mohalla committees which held regular meetings with leaders of both Hindu and Muslim communities. Most of these committees have become defunct.

Says Fazal Shahad, general secretary, Bombay Aman Committee, an organisation formed after the Bombay riots, "These mohalla committees have lost their relevance after unscrupulous elements got into it."

That view is backed by Maulana Riyaz, vice-president of the Ulema Council. "The mohalla committees were formed by Sahney because Muslims were upset by the role played by the Bombay police in the riots. However, only sycophantic leaders were taken into these committees. No constructive work could be done," he says.

City Police Commissioner Ronald Hyacinth Mendonca plans to meet leaders of both communities on a regular basis. All police stations have been told to remain on the alert after the government tables the Srikrishna report.

Already, five companies of the Special Reserve Police and one company of armed police from Madhya Pradesh have been stationed in Nagpur to tackle any eventuality there.

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