The Maharashtra chief minister has promised to
reopen the riots cases mentioned in the Justice
Srikrishna Commission report. It is a welcome
step, even if similar promises have been made in
the past. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is
under pressure to act since the Supreme Court has
asked a groups of NGOs to file an affidavit on
the lapses of the state government in
implementing the report. Predictably, Shiv Sena
has warned that reopening the cases will be
treated as an attack on Hindus.

Justice Srikrishna, who investigated the riots in
Mumbai after the demolition of Babri masjid, held
many Sena leaders guilty of rioting. Srikrishna
alleged that Bal Thackeray acted like a veteran
general and directed Sena cadre to attack
Muslims. The commission also held Sena leaders
like Madhukar Sarpotdar guilty of inciting and
aiding rioters. No action has so far been taken
against these leaders. The move to revisit the
Srikrishna report will necessitate filing fresh
cases against Sena and BJP politicians. With the
apex court on its heels, the Maharashtra
government may not be able to avoid action for
long.

The Sena argument that action on riots cases
amounts to injustice against Hindus and
appeasement of Muslims is perverse. The riots
were a criminal act - much as the blasts that
followed were - which resulted in the death of
more than 900 people. The perpetrators of the
crime, including in this case politicians and
policemen, have to be punished. The threat of mob
violence in the event of action against Sena
leaders should not become an excuse for inaction.
The government can plead the strictures of the
apex court as cover. The message should go out
that no individual is above the law or can evoke
the threat of mob fury to evade the law. This
applies to the policemen indicted by Srikrishna
and later exonerated after departmental
inquiries. Charges against them should be freshly
probed, perhaps by a central agency. It is
appalling that none of the 31 police officials
hauled up by the commission was convicted.

Now that many of the guilty in the Mumbai blasts
cases have been convicted, and rightly so, the
government can move towards closure by acting on
the Srikrishna commission report. Mumbai, the
country’s financial capital and arguably its
premier city, cannot live with the perception
that it allows lawless mobs to get away with
murder.