Bombay Riots
| 1992-93 Bombay Riots | |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 December 1992 – 26 January 1993 |
| Location | Mumbai, India |
| Causes | Demolition of Babri Mosque |
| Casualties | |
| Death(s) | 900 (575 Muslims, 275 Hindus, 50 others) |
The Bombay Riots usually refers to the riots in Mumbai, in December 1992 and January 1993, in which around 900 people died. The riots were mainly due to escalations of hostilities after large scale protests (initially peaceful then turned violent) by Muslims in reaction to 1992 Babri Masjid Demolition by Hindu Karsevaks in Ayodhya.
An investigative commission was formed under Justice B.N. Srikrishna, but the recommendations of the Inquiry were not enforced.
Many scholars stated that the riots were pre-planned, and that the Hindu rioters were granted access to information about the locations of Muslim homes and businesses through sources that were not public. The violence was widely reported as having been orchestrated by the Shiv Sena, a Hindu-nationalist political party in Maharashtra. A high-ranking member of the special branch later stated that the police were fully aware of the Shiv Sena's capabilities to commit acts of violence, and that they had incited hate against the minority communities. Historian Barbara Metcalf has stated that the riots were anti-Muslim pogrom.
The riots were followed by a retaliatory 12 March 1993 Bombay Bombings, perpetrated by criminal groups with alleged help of ganglord Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Company syndicate, in which more than 300 people were killed.
The riots started as a result of communal tension prevailing in the city after the Babri Mosque demolition on 6 December 1992. The Shrikrishna Commission identified two phases to the riots. The first was mainly a Muslim backlash as a result of the Babri Masjid demolition in the week immediately succeeding 6 December 1992 led by political leaders representing Hindutva in the city of Ayodhya. The second phase was a Hindu backlash occurring as a result of the killings of Hindu Mathadi Kamgar (workers) by Muslim fanatics in Dongri (an area of South Bombay), stabbing of Hindus in Muslim majority areas and burning of six Hindus, including a physically handicapped girl in Radhabai Chawl. This phase occurred in January 1993, with most incidents reported between 6 and 20 January.
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