Mah Govt appoints 4 judges to hear 1993 riots cases

Mumbai, Oct 23 (UNI) The Maharashtra government today assigned four courts to take up 16 cases related to the 1993 communal riots in the metropolis, on a priority basis.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, while talking to a group of Urdu scribes during an interactive session at his office, revealed that the Special Task Force (STF) has re-arrested 20 absconders, who were accused of arson and loot during the 1993 riots.

Today's development has come in the wake of a report of the special committee set up by the government to identify the cases, which had been closed by the erswtwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government, and which could have been brought for re-trial.

The special committee included Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chitkala Zutshi and Joint Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria, Mumbai.

The Bombay High Court had nominated, on a temporary basis, four courts to hear the riots cases. They include the courts of P N Deshmukh and M L Tahiliyani, Judges at City, Civil&Sessions court, the court of Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Metropolitan Magistrate, and R P Bapat-Sarkar, judge of Small Causes court.

UNI