The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a special leave petition filed by the Maharashtra government challenging the Bombay High Court’s order that suspended police officer Manohar Kadam’s life sentence for the 1997 Ramabai Nagar firing.

A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and MK Sharma pulled up the state for having appealed against one of its own officers. “The court was curious to know the why the state appealed against an officer who had fired on people in course of his duty,” said the state’s counsel advocate Sanjay Kharde.

Kadam’s sentence now remains suspended.

Kadam, an officer of the State Reserve Police Force who was later suspended, had been found guilty by a trial court of ordering his unit to open fire on a Dalit mob in the northeast suburb of Ghatkopar on July 11, 1997. Ten persons were killed and 25 injured in the mob, which was protesting the desecration of an Ambedkar statue. Kadam was sentenced to life by the trial court before the High Court suspended the sentence. His appeal had said he has two daughters, a son and a 90-year-old father to look after.

In its challenge, the state had mentioned the plight of several victims of the firing and their families. “It took 12 long years for the sessions court to convict Kadam. If Kadam is not sent behind bars, the purpose of the state’s sanction to prosecute him will not be justified,” read the appeal.

The Gundewar Commission of inquiry set up to look into the incident had also indicted Kadam, observing that steps taken by the police to disperse the large crowd gathered were inadequate and that the police had resorted to excessive force.

... contd.