Court sentences 5 to 3 yrs RI, acquits 3 in 1992 riot case

Mumbai, Jul 24 (UNI) A special court today sentenced five out of nine accused to three-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) for their involvement in the 1992-93 riots at Ghatkopar, an eastern suburb.

Metropolitan Magistrate S S Sharma, while pronouncing judgement today, found Noor Mohammed Khan, Mustaq Ansari, Pauddin Vasikuddin, Abdul Salim Sattar and Samiuddin Haider guilty of rioting punishable under sections 143, 145, 147, 148, 149, 285 and 151 of Indian Penal Code to suffer three years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each.

Mr Sharma observed, in his order, that any act of violence could not be justified and an attack on a police station, which is a law-enforcing authority, was harmful for the safety of society.

The court, however, acquitted Mohammed Ayub Khan and Noor Ismail Khan for lack of evidence, while it acquitted Mohammed Nasim Khan, who was a 12-year-old boy at the time of his arrest, for wrongly producing him before regular court instead of juvenile court.

The court also separated the trial of prime accused Akbar Lala, who was 80-years-old at the time of arrest and now is 96-years-old.

Total 10 witnesses were examined during the trial. Among them was the complainant, Atmaram Thorat, whose shop was ransacked by a mob of 50 to 60 people under the jurisdiction of Ghatkopar police station on December seven, 1992. However, the complainant himself turned hostile during his examination.

The court pronounced the order on the basis of the deposition of nine police personnel.

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