43 years later, judicial report on Moradabad riots justifies police action

The judicial enquiry commission which investigated the 1980 Moradabad riots, in which 84 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and 112 injured had said it could not be "factually established" that a pig was sighted near the mosque area which was cited as the reason for agitation of the devotees, prompting police action and riots.

The single-member enquiry commission of retired Allahabad High Court judge MP Saxena, also gave a clean chit to the police in its report, which was tabled in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on Tuesday. It said that firing by police at devotees at the mosque was "justified" and done to prevent widespread loss to life and property when use of warnings, tear gas and lathi charge proved futile.

The report said it was the "brainchild" of local Muslim League leader, Shamim Ahmed, and his supporters to spread the rumour of a pig straying, outrage the Muslims and accuse the police of the laxity, with a larger aim to gain Muslim support out of the conflict as he had been remained unsuccessful in political contests.

Apart from fixing accountability on Ahmed, the report also concluded that neither government officials, Hindus or ordinary Muslims nor the BJP and RSS, were responsible for the disturbance and riots.