Overview
- A key eyewitness, now 50, told a Mumbai sessions court on Wednesday that police broke down the madrasa door, fired inside the building and beat students and their teacher during the January 1993 raid.
- The witness described being struck with the butt of a rifle, kicked and hit with lathis and said he lost consciousness and still suffers pain from the head injuries.
- He told the court he later learned Maulana Abdul Qasim was beaten, shot three times and died, and said his statement had been recorded by a Special Task Force in 2001.
- The Srikrishna Commission earlier found police were “utterly trigger-happy” with no evidence of firearms at the site, a finding that led to an FIR in 2001 and to bookings of senior officers including R D Tyagi.
- The trial of six police officers on charges including murder is ongoing, the witness’s cross-examination is set for July 1, and the fresh testimony will factor into a long-delayed accountability process that has seen earlier discharges and procedural pauses.