Citizens Group demands Immediate Implementation of Srikrishna Commission Report from Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India
Citizens of Mumbai
December 7, 1999Press Release
Action on key recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission report will be
taken within two months, Maharashtra chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh
assured a high-powered citizens' delegation that met him to press this
demand on December 6. No Committee would be appointed to study the report
further and action as recommended by the Judge would be direct and speedy,
he clarified.
The delegation was led by Justice Hosbet Suresh who emphasised that the new
government needed to redeem the faith of the people by showing that it can
and will act on the matter. Ad and theatre personality, Alyque Padamsee,
script writer, Javed Akhtar, director, Mahesh Bhatt, senior Marathi
journalist, Nikhil Wagle, representatives of womens' organisations and
civil liberties' organisations, advocate Yusuf Muchchala, philanthropist,
Ghulam Pesh-Imam, members of the Mumbai Aman Committee, Voice of the
Exploited and editors of Communalism Combat participated. The effort was
the outcome of a citizens' meeting in the city on November 30 where the
decision to present such a memorandum had been taken.
The criminal prosecution of 15 police officials (including former Mumbai
police commissioner, R.D. Tyagi, found guilty of shooting dead innocent
workers at a bakery) and the re-opening of over 1,000 criminal cases lodged
by survivors that had been wrongly closed by the police would be the
immediate recommendations that would be expedited. These recommendations
had been acted upon by even the previous government that had rejected other
parts of the report.
Besides, the payment of compensation to the surviving families of over 500
missing persons (naturally assumed dead) would be a matter that would be
sorted out without creating bureaucratic wrangles.
The memorandum that was submitted to the chief minister also made the
demands for the prompt criminal prosecution of over three dozen politicians
identified by the Judge for criminal conduct during the riots. The
prosecution of newspapers guilty of inciting hatred and violence was also
imperative if a strong message against mischief mongers needed to be sent
down, the memorandum specified.
The delegation apprised the chief minister of the necessity for prompt
action in this matter. Mr. Deshmukh reiterated the commitment of both the
Congress(I) and the NCP to the implementation of the Srikrishna Commission
report, a commitment that had featured prominently in the election
manifestoes of both parties during the recently-conducted polls in the
state.
Prominent signatories to the memorandum included Marathi playwright, Vijay
Tendulkar, writer and political scientist, Nalini Pandit, veteran
litterateur, Y.D.Phadke, Justice S.M. Daud, senior advocates Iqbal Chagla
and Atul Setalvad, civil libetarians, P.A. Sebastian and Yogesh Kamdar,
reformist scholar, Asghar Ali Engineer among others.
Organisations that had joined in the campaign included
Progressive Minorities Council, Committee for the Protection
Of Democratic Rights, People's Union for Civil Liberties, Bombay Sarvodaya
Mandal, Ekta, Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Women's Centre,
Akhil Bharatiya Janwadi Mahila Sanghatana, Documentation,Research &
Training Centre (JPC), All India Milli Council, Nirbhay Bano Andolan
Citizen Welfare Committee, Muslim Intellectual Forum
SEVA, NEEDS.
Contact : Teesta Setalvad, Mumbai, India
Phone: (91-22) 6602288 / 6603927
Return to South Asia Citizens Web