A bench of Justices S K Kaul, A S Oka and Vikram Nath also set up a committee to monitor efforts to compensate the families of 108 persons “missing” following the incidents. The Supreme Court Friday asked the Bombay High Court to initiate steps to speed up cases related to the 1992-93 communal riots that are dormant owing to the accused being untraceable or absconding. A bench of Justices S K Kaul, A S Oka and Vikram Nath also set up a committee to monitor efforts to compensate the families of 108 persons “missing” following the incidents.

The court said this in its judgement on a 2001 petition which sought directions to the Maharashtra government “to accept and act on the finding of the Sri Krishna Commission”. The bench noted that of a total of 253 riot-related criminal cases, one was still pending while 97 are dormant, as pointed out in an affidavit submitted by the state. It directed the sessions court to dispose of the pending case at the earliest. The top court also asked the High Court to issue appropriate directions to the courts in which these cases are pending. “The High Court must ensure that the concerned courts take appropriate steps for tracing the accused. The state government will have to set up a special cell for tracing the accused,” it said. Nine hundred people died and 2,036 people were injured in the violence and police firing. The court said “there was a failure on the part of the state government to maintain law and order and to protect the rights of the people”. Stressing that they had a right to seek compensation from the state, it said “the houses, places of business and properties of the citizens were destroyed. These are all violations of their rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. One of the root causes of their suffering was the failure of the State Government to maintain law and order. Therefore, the affected persons had a right to seek compensation…”