BOMBAY A Bombay court on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the trial of a fiery right-wing Hindu leader accused of inciting religious violence.
Bal Thackeray, leader of the Hindu Shiv Sena Party and an ally of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, is accused of inciting violence through inflammatory newspaper articles during Hindu-Muslim riots in 1993.
These killed thousands of people after Hindu zealots tore down a 16th century mosque in northern India.
Justice Vishnu Sahay of the Bombay High Court told a packed courtroom: "The matter is worth arguing.
I am admitting the case without any observation." He did not set any time for a hearing of the case.
The judge, hearing an appeal by the Maharashtra state government, overturned a ruling by a lower court that Thackeray could not be tried because the riots were too long ago.
Thackeray was released on July 25 after having been under arrest for just two hours. His release eased tension in Bombay which had started building up after the state government announced more than a week earlier that it intended to prosecute the Shiv Sena leader.
(Reuter)