NCP President Sharad Pawar criticized the acquittal of all 67 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case and called for a judicial probe into the deaths due to sunstroke at an award ceremony in Kharghar. He also accused the BJP of misusing power and growing fundamentalism in the country.

Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party, has criticised the acquittal of 67 people accused of involvement in a violent 2002 riot in Naroda Gam, India, which led to the death of 11 Muslims. Speaking in Mumbai, he described the judgement as the “murder of rule of law and the Constitution”. On the same platform, he also blamed the Maharashtra government for the death of people due to sunstroke at the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony in Kharghar and demanded a judicial probe. The NCP leader accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of misusing power to destroy opposition parties.