The Suleman Bakery firing case of 1993 will come up for hearing once again,after a gap of more than a year. The Bombay High Court will take it up in June following three petitions filed by riot victims,who are also accused. The case involves two versions - that of the police against citizens,and vice versa. In September 2005,the Sewri sessions court had ordered that both aspects be heard simultaneously and a judgment passed. Subsequently the High Court stayed the trial on January 19. It is the third case involving police firing on citizens. Senior Police officer Manohar Kadam was recently convicted for the Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar firing of 1997,though the High Court has now suspended his sentence. Nikhil Kapse,a police sub-inspector in 1993,is currently under CBI investigation for the firing inside Hari Masjid mosque in Wadala. The Suleman Bakery incident saw policemen allegedly opening fire in a room above a mosque. The court is hearing two petitions. Riot victims Noorul Huda and Ashfaq Ahmed,also accused,have challenged the discharge of then ACP R D Tyagi and eight others in 2003. The other petition challenges the framing of charges against them by the Sewri fast track court. The petitioners contend that the state government cannot give two versions of the same incident. The prosecution had framed charges against the police officers based on a Special Task Forces investigation that found that the police firing was unjustified. But it also framed charges against the accused citizens,leading to two versions of the same case,the petitioners say. The last hearing was by a single bench in February 2008. Further hearing was held up with the change of assignments in the High Court. Senior counsel Vijay Pradhan,appearing for the petitioners,had told the court that their case is mainly focused against the discharge of Tyagi. Case DiaryApril 2003: Sessions court discharges 9 of 18 police officialsApril 2005: Recording of evidence against accused citizens beginsAugust 2005: Witnesses cross examinedSeptember 2005: Court order for trying both cases simultaneouslyJanuary 2006: High Court stays trial
