CBI tries to foil defence bid on Srikrishna Report

umbai, Dec 11 (UNI) The CBI today thwarted an attempt by the defence to bring on record the Srikrishna Report which looked into the role played by the police in the 1992-93 communal riots in the city which preceded the serial bomb blasts that left 257 people dead and 713 wounded in India's worst terror attack in its financial capital.

Objecting to the citation of the Srikrishna Commission report by the defence for some of the blasts' convicts during the arguments on the quantum of punishment to be awarded, CBI counsel Ujjwal Nikam said the report was not admissible as evidence in the TADA court under the Commissions of Inquiry Act.

Nikam, the special public prosecutor, said the report was recommendatory in nature and not a statement of fact.

However, defence lawyer Harshad Ponda, representing some of the accused held guilty by the TADA court, cited the report in a bid to establish the background against which the blasts occurred. The riots in Mumbai followed the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. Ponda said during the riots police did not help members of the minority community and even refused to register their complaints. '' The Srikrishna Report clearly states the police actively took an anti-minority stand, he added.

When Judge Pramod Kode asked the prosecution if the report could be taken on record, Nikam instantly objected, stating that the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, does not permit a report submitted by a Commission to be used as evidence in court.

Stating that the report is a public document, Ponda claimed it to be admissible adding that though evidence recorded by a Commission can not be tabled before the court, its findings can be considered.

The arguments remained inconclusive and the hearing was adjourned for the day as the prosecution sought time to file a formal objection.

Out of 123 accused who faced trial in the case, 100 have been convicted while the remaining acquitted.

The quantum of punishment for each convict will be decided after the defence and prosecution finish their arguments.

UNI XR SA AKJ VV1911