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Shiv Kumar in Bombay
A retired high court judge has been named to head the judicial inquiry into last month's Hindu-Muslim violence in Malegaon ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to the town on Friday.
K N Patil, a former judge of the Bombay high court, will head the one-man inquiry commission that will examine, among other things, allegations of police excesses on Muslim protestors in the textile town, about 165 km from Bombay, in Maharashtra's Nasik district.
Patil has been given six months to submit his findings.
Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had ordered a judicial probe into the incident on November 1 following allegations that the large number of deaths in police firing had occurred as demonstrators had been shot above the waist.
Also, the police were accused of opening fire on demonstrators without warning.
Of the 12 people killed in Malegaon, 11 were Muslims, who were killed in police firing, while a lone Hindu died of stab wounds sustained during the clashes.
Tension had risen in the area on October 26 when Muslims returning from weekly prayers allegedly distributed pamphlets asking the members of the community to boycott British and American goods in response to the bombings in Afghanistan.
Tempers flared when an officer of the State Reserve Police scuffled with some youths distributing the material. This led to rioting, which soon spread to nearby areas.
Gandhi's trip to Malegaon on Friday comes on the heels of a visit by Congress MP from Bombay Sunil Dutt, who took out a peace march in the town and the neighbouring villages on Sunday.
Gandhi was scheduled to visit the town last month but the trip was postponed on the advice of local police officials.
The town is returning to normal though the municipal council elections have been postponed.
The government had come under heavy criticism for its handling of the situation. Smelling an opportunity, some of the dissident legislators raised demands for the ouster of Chief Minister Vilas Deshmukh and even met Gandhi in New Delhi.
But the crisis blew over after Gandhi's emissaries firmly rejected the demand of the rebels to replace Deshmukh.
Indo-Asian News Service
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