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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Face Of Accountability In 1992-1993 Riots

Abdul Sattar Suleman Mithaiwala – the soft-spoken yet steely owner of the popular sweetmeat shop and a bakery on Mohammed Ali Road, passed away in the wee hours of Monday.   ‘Sattarbhai’ – as he was known to all - was 79, and remained a friendly and familiar bearded figure in his tiny office behind the sweetmeat shop where he met visitors, lawyers, journalists and cops.   After all, he was one of the most identifiable faces connected with the dual riots that rocked Mumbai – first in Dec. 1992...

Face Of Accountability In 1992-1993 Riots

Abdul Sattar Suleman Mithaiwala – the soft-spoken yet steely owner of the popular sweetmeat shop and a bakery on Mohammed Ali Road, passed away in the wee hours of Monday.   ‘Sattarbhai’ – as he was known to all - was 79, and remained a friendly and familiar bearded figure in his tiny office behind the sweetmeat shop where he met visitors, lawyers, journalists and cops.   After all, he was one of the most identifiable faces connected with the dual riots that rocked Mumbai – first in Dec. 1992 and then in Jan. 1993 – in the aftermath of the razing of the contentious Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on Dec. 6, 1992 – a painful chapter that is now practically erased from history.   Sattarbhai’s entry into the riots case came when a massive tragedy took place in his Suleman Bakery on January 9, 1993 – changing his life forever.   Acting on a tip-off of alleged firing from the bakery premises, a police team led by then Joint Commissioner of Police R. D. Tyagi rushed there and surrounded the building. In the stormy operation that followed, at least eight unarmed men, mostly bakery workers living inside the bakery were killed, triggering national outrage.   Undaunted by the catastrophe taking place in his own premises, Sattar decided to pursue the case with dogged determination, silent courage and fighting all pressures.   The tragedy that defined his life happened during the second phase of the bloody communal riots that ravaged Mumbai after the Babri Mosque was felled.   Acting on reports of alleged firing from the bakery premises, a police team led by Tyagi stormed the building. In the operation that followed, eight unarmed men inside the bakery were killed, triggering national outrage.   The Suleman Bakery firing catapulted into one of the most high-profile, and controversial incidents of the 1992-1993 riots – though it was not the only one. The reason was the alleged perpetrators were policemen and the victims were ordinary unarmed civilians trapped inside their workplace.   At the time when the country’s commercial capital was engulfed in a communal conflagration for weeks, this case raised questions over bias, use of excessive force and willy-nilly state complicity. As Justice B. N. Srikrishna Commission later noted how the police version “did not inspire credence”, making the tragedy a symbol of institutional failure.   Public Memory As Mumbai bore the brunt of the riots with lumpens ruling the streets for weeks, the Suleman Bakery case became a rare one where accountability was directly sought from the police and the government – remaining etched in public memory since then.   Coupled with the Radhabai Chawl killings or police firing instances in different parts of the city, doubts were raised in public minds whether the violence was sporadic and spontaneous or was probably enabled and encouraged by those in power, as more than 900 deaths and 2000-plus injuries were recorded. Later, the city was scarred  by the serial blasts on March 12, 1993, with more deaths, destruction and social devastation.   Sattarbhai followed up his quest for justice diligently, but over time, it appeared to be fizzling out, 18 cops were booked of whom Tyagi and nine others were discharged in 2003 for lack of evidence, two died during the trial and only four still face the legal proceedings.   Even at the age of 75, Sattarbhai came to the court in a wheelchair, but later declared a ‘hostile witness’ as he could not remember certain crucial details of that night. Privately, he became cynical, even admitted to pressures from different quarters, first labelled as a suspect and then even blamed for the bakery incident itself – saying his confidence was shaken.   Bakery Carnage The Suleman Bakery firing occurred at the height of one of Mumbai’s darkest chapters – the bloody riots of December 1992–January 1993 riots - triggered by the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, and left over 900 people dead across the city.   After an uneasy lull in December 1992, tensions escalated again in early January 1993 following a series of killings in south Mumbai, including that of a Mathadi worker in Pydhonie, which were given a communal colour.   On January 9, police claimed that they got reports of some shady activities in the bakery and a team stormed there, leaving at least eight unarmed workers dead. After a massive furore, tough investigations, and a judicial probe by Justice B. N. Srikrishna Commission, raised haunting questions on the police role, and remained unanswered.   Over time, the Suleman Bakery case symbolised a deep communal chasm of that period, the long struggle for accountability in riot-related violence, particularly from the law-enforcers, and Sattarbhai stood as a solitary torchbearer of that valiant effort.

AI in Sperm Sorting: An Unbiased Decision for A Better Outcome

Artificial Intelligence or AI is revolutionising fertility treatments of the future. The inclusion of AI enhances the accuracy, efficiency, and objectivity of sperm selection, hence potentially improving fertility outcomes by leaps and bounds. Traditionally, sperm sorting through manual methods is subjective to judgments. Processes like centrifugation and swim-up methods are used to separate sperm based on motility and morphology. Although they are effective, they have their limitations, leading to human errors that affect the success rates of fertility treatment. For instance, studies have shown that traditional sperm sorting techniques can have variability in success rates, with reported live birth rates ranging between 15 per cent to 25 per cent per cycle depending on the method and quality of sperm. Hence the introduction of AI helps in maintaining consistency in evaluations of sperm, using the same data set for every sample which leads to better judgments.


Automation and Standardisation- Automation of sperm selection and also introduction of AI in the process have improved the results in ART. AI-assisted sperm selection improves the accuracy in choosing high-quality sperm for fertilisation purposes, and also, pregnancy and live birth rates might be improved. Technologies like Intracytoplasmic Morphologically Selected Sperm Injection along with AI ensure the chances of pregnancies increase by about 10-20 per cent compared to the standard procedures. AI and Automation will decrease time taken to analyze sperm and increase opportunities to select better sperm with DNA integrity for better development and higher success rates in embryo selection. These processes ensure that the sperm selection process follows consistent criteria, reducing variability in outcomes caused by human error.


Analysing Complex Data for Better Outcomes- AI plays a crucial in improving IVF outcomes by analysing complex data and providing tailored recommendations. AI-driven tools and models such as those on SpOvum.ai point towards an opportunity to optimise ovarian stimulation decisions by assessing patient characteristics and follicle growth patterns. A study revealed that the use of AI in IVF improved egg yield and reduced medication costs. AI enables fertility specialists to make data-driven choices, improving overall IVF success rates and streamlining treatment processes.


Reducing Human Error- AI models can continuously learn and refine their performance by being trained on newer data. This adaptability ensures the technology remains unbiased and up-to-date with the latest scientific insights into sperm quality and fertility success rates. Studies have shown that AI-driven sperm sorting can decrease human-related errors by up to 25 per cent, improving sperm selection quality in terms of morphology and motility.


Reduction of Sperm Damage- The new AI-driven sperm sorting techniques also include microfluidic systems that are known to exhibit several advantages over the most commonly used conventional method, which is centrifugation. Traditional centrifugation methods, such as density gradient centrifugation, also cause severe oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation of the sperm because of the very high mechanical forces involved. The AI-infused microfluidic sorting minimises this damage significantly by involving gentler processes that mimic the natural pathway of sperm selection. The studies show that the process of microfluidic sorting decreases DNA fragmentation in sperm, which gives improved opportunities for success for IVF. For example, DNA fragmentation is 20 percent lower in sperm sorted using microfluidic processes than in traditional processing methods.


AI is bound to play an increasingly definitive role in fertility treatments, which will improve the outcomes for couples experiencing infertility.


(The author is a Co-Founder & CEO at SpOvum® Technologies. Views personal.)

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