The way Justice Srikrishna repont on Bombay riots (1992-93) has been received by the State Government and the Centre raises grave doubts about the future of democracy in India.

Although the issue is of wider significance its cutting hurts the minorities directly. Will they find themselves, without any hope of redress, at the mercy of power-crazy arrogance? Will they gradually lose the protective cover of democratic norms? Will those wielding power be free to trample under foot the weaker sections of society, confident that their brute majority cannot be called to account. The dilemma that the country is presently facing is the existence of a state that swears by democracy and is moving towards a godless theocracy ...

Without being unnecessarily alarmist, Muslims as the targetted minority, should seriously consider the problem of their security. If such elements prevail, which is most unlikely, atrocities would continue to be perpetrated with impunity ... Either case the country will suffer and chaos would be let loose. Our countrymen ... even while they are worried about the law and order situation and the economic straits, ... the plight of the minorities, however, does not seem perturb them.           (Source: Editorial in The Nation and the World, 1 September, 1998)