Mumbai: After 41 years, a sessions court on Saturday acquitted a 58-year-old man from Mumbra, Mohammad Shaikh, in communal rioting and murder case, citing a complete lack of evidence to link the accused to the violence. The incident involved a clash between the Bohra and Sunni Muslim communities in the Dongri locality. The case involved religious tensions following a Muharram sermon in Aug 1988. A mob of nearly 2,000 people was alleged to have engaged in stone-pelting, arson, and assaults. While the court noted that a homicidal death and large-scale rioting had occurred, it found that the prosecution failed to establish Shaikh’s presence or participation in the mob.
