Govt, police responsible for Dhule riots: Kadam

Nashik, Oct 8: Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Ramdas Kadam today said the State government and the police were responsible for the recent riots in Dhule.

''What was the intelligence machinery doing? Was the police asleep? The government and the police are responsible for all this,'' he said in a press conference here after visiting the riot- affected parts of Dhule.

''I will demand arrest of Shabbir Shaikh, the person behind the riots under the MCOCA. The government has lessened the morale of the police by not taking action against those attacking the police. Police themselves were trying to save their lives. The whole government machinery came to a standstill in Dhule,'' the Shiv Sena leader said.

He reiterated the demand for 'Common Civil Code' and blamed the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and its local operators for the riots.

Claiming that there was not a single communal riot during the Shiv Sena-BJP rule in Maharashtra in comparison to 450 riots during the Democratic Front government's four-and-half year's rule, Mr Kadam hoped that the Dhule riots would be the last leaf in the whole episode.

The government should take care that nothing of this sort happen again in future, he added.

He also appealed to all sections of the society to maintain peace.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe, who accompanied Mr Kadam, raised a demand of an inquiry by a woman IAS officer into the atrocities committed against women and added that trials should be done in special courts and action should be taken in three months.

Chief Minister Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil and NCP corporator in Dhule Shabbir Shaikh also visited the riot-affected areas of Dhule.

UNI