NEW DELHI, Aug 13: The Congress Party-led government in India’s Maharashtra state has agreed to set up special courts to deal with “around two dozen serious cases” mentioned in the Justice Srikrishna Commission report which probed the 1992-93 anti-Muslim riots in Mumbai.

State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh gave this assurance to a delegation of Muslim organisations and NGOs in Mumbai on Monday.

Rights activist Teesta Setalvad and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who led the groups said some two lakh Muslims who had threatened to stage a rally in the city on Aug 20 would postpone the move following the assurances.

“We are postponing the rally to Oct 25 following the chief minister’s assurance,” Mahesh Bhatt said.

“We pointed out to Deshmukh that of the 253 total cases mentioned in the Srikrishna report, around two to three dozens were serious ones as they deal with offences under section 302 (murder) of IPC,” said Ms Setalvad.

“Deshmukh told us the government was very serious on the issue and would write to the high court for setting up three to four special courts to deal with the serious cases and also appoint special public prosecutors,” she said.

The proposal to set up special courts is expected to be put up for approval before the Cabinet, after which, the government would write to the high court. Mr Deshmukh also assured the delegation that stringent action would be taken against newspapers publishing inflammatory articles, reference to rabid newsletters published by the Shiv Sena.