As a lawyer’s petition seeking implementation of the Srikrishna Commission report on the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots in Mumbai comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court tomorrow, the Special Task Force (STF) is unwilling to move against policemen indicted for their role during the riots. The STF says it has already done its bit and its “main job now is to bust milk adulteration and spurious oil rackets in the city”.Although the STF was constituted in August 2000 as a prosecuting agency in the riots cases, Satish Gaikwad, DCP (STF), maintains: “Our profile has changed a great deal over the years. We are only meant to monitor the riot-related cases and see that nothing untoward happens in the investigations carried out by local police stations. All work related to the riots was handled by the STF a long time ago and now it’s the responsibility of the police stations.”Under pressure to implement recommendations of the Commission, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has instructed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to take action against policemen indicted by the Commission. Asked whether the STF would follow up cases of indicted policemen and whether it would appeal against acquittal in some cases, Gaikwad said, “That is not our job. Each case is being investigated by a local police station and it is their responsibility to take further action in this regard.” “Recently, Crime Branch Control and Sales Tax Cells were placed under me. The STF’s main job now is to bust milk adulteration and spurious oil rackets in the city. We have been conducting raids throughout the year and have been busy with such duties. On May 8, we busted a major oil adulteration case, in which 80,000 litres were recovered,” he said. Confirming what Gaikwad said, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria told The Indian Express: “The STF is only a monitoring body. After an acquittal comes through, it is up to the investigating officer to consult with his superior officers like a DCP and decide whether to go in appeal against an acquittal. The STF is a set-up only to co-ordinate these cases.” When asked whether the STF’s focus has been diverted to milk adulteration raids, Maria said: “It is only because the CB control branch has been placed under the DCP handling STF that the raids on milk adulteration have been carried out in recent times.” The STF, with its office in the Esplanade Court compound, is made up of a DCP, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, two senior police inspectors, two police inspectors, 16 police sub-inspectors and 56 constables. Shakeel Ahmed, the lawyer who has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking implementation of the Srikrishna Commission’s recommendations, said: “It comes as a surprise to me that the STF is still in existence since they have not done any work at all. Out of 1,365 cases it was asked to reopen, the STF chose only 104 cases for scrutiny and took forward only 8 cases, that too half-heartedly. The STF provides no explanation for its inaction in this regard.”“There are hundreds of affidavits filed and the STF can make strong cases in each of them as there are plenty of willing witnesses, addresses, recorded statements, details of wireless messages exchanged at that time as well as post mortem details,” Ahmed said.According to the Srikrishna Commission report: “Police personnel were found actively participating in riots, communal incidents or incidents of looting, arson and so on.” It recommended that the government take strict action against 31 policemen named in the report. So far, only one constable, Sanjay Laxman Gawade, has been dismissed from service.
