Court reduces sentence of 1992 Mumbai riots accused

A Sessions court on Saturday reduced the prison term handed down to Shiv Sena leader Jaywant Parab for delivering hate speeches during the December 1992 communal riots in the city, to a simple imprisonment of two months.

A Sessions court on Saturday reduced the prison term handed down to Shiv Sena leader Jaywant Parab for delivering hate speeches during the December 1992 communal riots in the city, to a simple imprisonment of two months.

HT Image

According to the prosecution, during the riots, there were rumours of a Ganesh idol being desecrated in a temple in Bandra. On December 27, 1992, Shiv Sena leader Madhukar Sarpotdar had led a 5,000-strong mob through Nirmal Nagar and Kherwadi in Bandra to the Ganesh temple.

There, Sarpotdar, Parab and other Sena leaders delivered provocative speeches at the temple during the reinstallation of the Ganesha idol, which turned the mob violent and culminated in riots.

On July 9, 2008, a special magistrate, appointed to try cases related to the December 1992 and January 1993 riots in the city, had convicted Parab along with Sarpotdar and a party activist Ashok Shinde for delivering inflammatory speeches, which added fuel to the already tense atmosphere.

The magistrate had awarded all of them simple imprisonment of a year and fine of Rs 5,000 each.

However, immediately after sentencing them, the magistrate granted them temporary bail in order to file appeals challenging their convictions and the prison term. Sarpotdar expired on February 20, 2010 while the appeals were pending.