Citizens group to meet President on Srikrishna panel report

Mumbai, Aug 9 (UNI) A delegation of citizens and civil liberty groups will soon meet President Pratibha Patil on the Srikrishna Commission report.

''We are planning to call on the President and draw her attention on the findings and recommendations of the Srikrishna panel, which are awaiting implementaion even after so many years of the submission of the report,'' eminent social activist and journalist Teesta Seetalwad said here today.

Earlier in the day, a delegation comprising rights and civil liberty activists called on the Mumbai Police Commissioner D N Jadhav and submitted a representation, urging him to take action against Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamna for allegedly using provocative language against those who are demanding for action in the Srkrishna Commission report.

''The paper has used vitriolic and poisonous language against those citizens who wish to ask for their democratic right of justice for all and protest peacefully. We urge you to take action against the Saamna that is clearly violating the law,'' the represntation said.

The meeting comes in the wake of the Vilasrao Deshmukh government's alleged inaction over the findings of the Srikrishna Panel on the 1992-93 Mumbai Communal riots.

The Panel, which investigated the role of politicians and police officials in fanning the communal carnage, in its report has held responsible the Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray, former state Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and former minister Madhukar Sarpotdar, besides a host of other politicians and police officials for the riots.

According to the representation, the report of Justice Srikrishna lays bare cause and effect while contextualising the violence.

''It is critical that the law enforcement machinery also acts in the same public manner as the Commission of Inquiry did. The demand made by citizens is a constitutional demand, a fair demand not a communal one,'' the civil liberty group said.

Stating that eminent social activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad, who filed the application under the Right to Information Act, has prepared a detailed compilation of about 189 cases that are fit to be reopened or must be looked at rigorously for that purpose, the representation has also posed certain questions to the Police Commissioner and has sought replies at the earliest.

According to the representation, after the Commission report in 1998, the then state government had appointed a Committee under the then Director General of Police Inamdar with a 40 member team to look into the report's implementation.

Of the 1,371 cases that were examined by this Committee of police officials, 112 cases which were identified by the Committee, merited attention. After examining the merits of each case, it is learnt that only 8 were chargesheeted. Of these, in 3 cases acquittal has taken place, while 5 the cases are still pending, the representation said.

Referring to the Special Task Force, which was set up by the present government after it assumed power in 1998, the representation says that under then Additional Commissioner of Police Raghuvanshi a decision was taken (in response to the Supreme Court petitions also) to re-open the cases 'in toto'.

''Under this, 1,371 cases and another 121 were all examined. The STF identified 15 cases and filed chargesheet in 9 of these. In addition, the STF filed 8 fresh cases including cases against Gajanan Kirtikar. Hence we require information about the status report in all these cases,'' the representation stated.

Those who called on the Police Commissioner include Anil Dharker, Naresh Fernandes, Kiran Nagarkar Mahesh, Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad.

UNI