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Wait for justice continues
10 years have lapsed since 11 people were killed in a police firing on July 11, 1997, in Ghatkopar, but the victims still await justice as the trial is still to begin.
Updated : Nov 19, 2013, 11:17 PM IST
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V Narayan & Poornima Swaminathan
Ten years have lapsed since 11 people were killed in a police firing on July 11, 1997, at Ramabai Nagar in Ghatkopar, but the victims still await justice as the trial is still to begin.
Every year on July 11, the stage is set in Ramabai Nagar to replay the police firing. “This is our way of ensuring that we do not forget the injustice,” said Jayram Kamble, 65, who witnessed the bloody killings in 1997. Every generation in the predominantly Dalit locality nestled off the Eastern Express Highway, is reminded of the brutality that met the dalits protesting the desecration of a statute of Babasaheb Ambedkar. A police team led by State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) sub-inspector Manohar Kadam had opened fired on the group of protestors who resorted to a rasta roko.
The killings had sparked off a statewide frenzy. An inquiry commission headed by Justice SD Gundewar submitted its report in December 1998 and held that the police firing was “indiscriminate, unwarranted, unprovoked and unjustified”. Justice Gundewar had indicted Kadam saying, “lapses on part of Kadam are so glaring and fatal that they can hardly be accepted. He has exposed himself in more than one way and I do not think that such an officer should continue to be in police service.”
Despite the indictment, Kadam was not charged with murder. “It was six months ago that charges were framed against him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” said human rights lawyer Shakeel Ahmed. The trial is yet to begin. Senior lawyer Vijay Pradhan has been appointed as the special public prosecutor in the case. An application seeking to alter the charges against Kadam, who is currently in Pune, and book him for murder is pending in the Sewri court.
The 10th death anniversary of those who died in the firing is being observed in Ramabai Nagar on Wednesday. The hope to get justice is still alive. “The police thought we are voiceless. But we will ensure that justice is done,” said Pankaj Kale, 28, who was a college student when the firing occurred.
