ABSTRACT
Tales of police atrocities towards Muslims during communal riots are all too common. The Mumbai riots too had their share of them. This chapter proposes to deal at length with their attitudes rather than their acts, since one led to the other. How could they take action against those who, according to them, were doing no wrong? It is also worth noting that about 60 per cent of the 1992–93 riot cases were closed by the police. During these riots, upper class Muslims suddenly realised they were vulnerable too; their class could neither protect them from the Shiv Sena, nor could it help them get protection by the police. For the first time, many Muslims who had never considered themselves as an unequal minority, began to think themselves as so. Police all over the world treat religious/linguistic/ethnic minorities as unequal; but in a democracy, they ought to be punished.
