The state government on Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that the Mumbai Collector (city) would carry out a fresh inquiry into the damages incurred during the riots at Azad Maidan on August 11, 2012. Earlier this month, the court had asked the state government to reconsider its order issuing a notice to Raza Academy, the organisation that held a protest rally at Azad Maidan that later turned violent, for the recovery of damages worth Rs 2.74 crore. The court had then felt that the order was passed in haste and asked the state government to re-assess the loss incurred by various parties during the riots. The court was hearing a PIL filed by Sanket Satope and Uday Joshi, members of Deshbhakta Patrakar Sangh, seeking the court’s intervention to compensate media organisations whose equipment were damaged in the violence. Additional public prosecutor Aruna Kamat Pai told the court that the collector would carry out an inquiry into the damages as prescribed under Section 51 of the Bombay Police Act (compensation for injury or damages caused by an unlawful assembly . On April 16, the Collector had issued a notice to Raza Academy to seek recovery of Rs 2.74 crore. The court was told that the amount was assessed based on a police report. The court had, however, told the state government that while assessing the losses, the government must take into account the versions of both the accused and victims. The government had informed the court last month that 77 accused and 964 witnesses in the case were being questioned by the police. The petitioners claimed that about 3,000 people had taken to violence in a gathering of 15,000-20,000 protesting the alleged atrocities against Muslims in Assam and Myanmar. Two persons were killed, while 65 others were injured in the violence. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
