#Justicedelayed means justice denied20 years on, riot victim’s mother yet to get justiceTwenty years after her son was killed in cold blood, allegedly by the Mumbai police during the 1993 Bombay riots, Akhtari Tahir Hasan Wagle launched an indefinite hunger strike on Saturday seeking justice.Ms. Wagle is demanding that an FIR be filed against eight policemen who allegedly killed her son. The Srikrishna Commission, appointed to investigate the riots, had termed Shahnawaz’s killing a ‘cold-blooded murder’ and directed the State to institute an impartial inquiry.No action was ever taken on that report.Her path to justice was caught up in legal muddle. The High Court rejected her petition demanding justice to her son because a similar case was pending in the Supreme Court.“I want justice for my son, but all my legal paths are blocked. I have no money to approach the Supreme Court and become a party in the pending petition there. I hope my hunger strike will draw the government’s attention to this neglected case,” said Ms. Wagle.The case in the Supreme Court was filed in 1998 by an NGO, Action Committee for Implementation of Srikrishna Report, led by Minority Affairs Minister of Maharashtra and Congress MLA Arif Naseem Khan. Ms. Wagle’s case was presented as an example of the denial of justice to riot victims, along with four other cases. The family was not informed that its case was mentioned in the petition. The case is pending in the Supreme Court for the last 15 years.The Wagles wrote to the Chief Justice of India on March 4, 2013 seeking action against the action committee members for “delaying the process of justice.” They received a reply stating thatthe family was not a party to the matter and no action could be taken on its letter.The family later approached Mr. Khan either to take interest in his petition in the Supreme Court or withdraw it; however, they received no reply from him. Finally, the family wrote a letter to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi last month, informing them of the hunger strike. None of them replied to the family.When contacted, Mr. Khan toldThe Hinduthat he would not comment on the case as the matter was sub judice.“Our petition in the Supreme Court has helped to bring this matter to light. We will make surethat justice is delivered,” he said.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 04:05:03 +0000
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