New Delhi December 13: A sessions court here has acquitted the last remaining accused in a 1993 communal riots case, bringing closure to a trial that stretched over more than three decades, a court official said.
Additional Sessions Judge M.B. Oza, in an order passed on December 5, acquitted Asif Ali Hasmulla Shaikh (53), holding that the prosecution had failed to establish his involvement in the violence that erupted in the Wadala area during the January 1993 riots.
“There is absolutely no evidence to show the complicity of the accused in the said crime,” the court observed, noting that no identification parade was conducted and prosecution witnesses admitted that the accused was unknown to them prior to the incident.
The case related to an incident on January 12, 1993, when a mob of around 300 to 400 people from Hindu and Muslim communities clashed in Wadala (East). According to the prosecution, the mob pelted stones, soda bottles, burning balls and tube lights, prompting police to resort to a lathi-charge and fire rifle rounds in the air to disperse the crowd. Four persons were reported injured, though the court noted that witnesses did not depose about injuries or medical treatment.
The judge pointed out that none of the three prosecution witnesses identified Shaikh or described his participation in the violence. “Admittedly there was mob of 300 to 400 and it was difficult to ascertain who actively participated in vandalisation,” the court said.
Fifteen people were booked in the case under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 143, 144, 145, 147, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code. While 14 accused were acquitted between 2003 and 2023 for want of evidence, Shaikh remained absconding for several years. He was arrested in July 2025 on a non-bailable warrant and later released on bail.
Holding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges, the court acquitted Shaikh under Section 235(1) of the CrPC, cancelled his bail bond and directed him to furnish a personal bond of ₹5,000 under Section 437-A of the CrPC.
Mumbai witnessed one of its worst bouts of communal violence following the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, with the riots of December 1992 and January 1993 claiming an estimated 900 lives.
