Original post-mortem reports destroyed

MUMBAI: Thirty years after eight unarmed Muslims were shot dead by cops inside the premises of Suleman Usman Bakery and its adjacent madarsa during the ’92-’93 Mumbai riots, a record number of witnesses turned up to depose in the trial of the seven policemen charged with murder on Wednesday.

However, not one was able to depose. The damage that occurs when a matter is delayed inordinately came to light when it was revealed that the original postmortem reports of the eight persons killed during the raid were destroyed in 2005 on the orders of the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mumbai.

The Suleman Usman Bakery was raided in 1993, and highlighted by the Justice B N Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry Report in 1998. It was brought to the Supreme Court’s attention in 2000, which resulted in a charge sheet being filed in 2001. The trial, however, only began in 2019. After the prosecution was pulled up by Additional Sessions Judge A A Kulkarni for not producing witnesses, the police team of PSI Bhosale of the Special Task Force, set up to act on the Commission Report, and Pydhonie Police Station’s API Nitin Jadhav, produced seven witnesses in court on Wednesday. These included a victim of the raid, retired Dr Ashok

Shinde, who had conducted the post-mortems of the dead and a panch witness. However, the deposition of Dr Shinde was abandoned following a disagreement between the judge and assistant public prosecutor (APP) Ratnavali Patil. The APP wanted Dr Shinde to read out the details mentioned in the postmortem reports, especially the external and internal injuries, including gunshot wounds. She said he could then be asked to explain medical terms which would otherwise be unintelligible to the court. She stressed that this was crucial evidence and should be part of the expert witness’ testimony. However, Judge Kulkarni said instead of the witness reading out from eight postmortem reports, the APP could exhibit them and bring them on record. Dr Shinde, who was the medical officer at the Coroner’s Court in January 1993, informed the court that the originals were destroyed on orders of the CP, Mumbai, in 2005.

The APP argued the prosecution had no control over the destruction of the original reports. It being a 30-year-old matter, the witness could be permitted to refresh his memory by referring to the record while deposing, she said. Since the judge refused permission, the PP requested that she be allowed to submit an application after verifying the legal provisions.

The matter will be heard on Thursday.