Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declared in the Lok Sabha that his government would tackle the problem of minorities with a view to ending it “once and for all”. Replying to the debate on the President’s address to Parliament, he said economic disparity was the main cause of the periodic eruption of riots. His reference to the minority problem came immediately after his assertion that the government was determined to find a solution to the problems of Punjab and Assam. At the outset, the Prime Minister charged the opposition members with making wild charges after losing badly in the elections.

SC On Police Excesses
The Supreme Court asked the Government to amend the law of evidence suitably so that policemen who commit atrocities on persons who are in their custody are not allowed to escape for want of evidence. These statements were made in a case in which a farmer of Uttar Pradesh was brutally murdered in the Hussamganj police station for refusing to pay bribes to escape a false charge.