Overview

• Acting on a teen petitioner’s plea, a two-judge bench directed the Maharashtra Home Secretary to register an FIR and constitute an SIT on the May 2023 Akola riots.
• The SIT must include senior police officers from both Hindu and Muslim communities and place its investigation report before the Supreme Court within three months.
• The bench faulted the police for dereliction of duty and religious bias, ordering disciplinary action against erring officials and department-wide sensitisation.
• Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma criticized the Akola SP and Old City Police Station for ignoring a medico-legal case recorded soon after the teen’s hospitalization.
• The ruling revives 17-year-old Mohammad Afzal’s complaint—earlier dismissed by the Bombay High Court—alleging the murder of Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad and an assault on the petitioner.