February 25, 1989

12 Die in Bombay in Anti-Rushdie Riot

By SANJOY HAZARIKA

EW DELHI, Feb. 24 -- At least 12 people were killed and 40 wounded today when the police fired at Muslims rioting in Bombay against Salman Rushdie's novel, ''The Satanic Verses.''

News accounts of the violence in Bombay, Mr. Rushdie's birthplace, said the trouble began when Muslim demonstrators sought to move past police barricades set up to block their march on the British diplomatic mission in the city to protest British protection of the novelist. Mr. Rushdie, a British citizen, is in seclusion in England under police guard. A Three-Hour Battle

According to the Press Trust of India news agency, the police fired at the rioters in Bombay after people in the crowd opened fire on officers. The result was a three-hour battle, with rioters spilling across the crowded streets of South Bombay, burning cars, buses, motorcycles and even torching the small police station.

Reuters quoted a protest leader, Sharafat Khan, as saying organizers were pleading with the police to let a march proceed when the violence broke out. ''It all happened so suddenly,'' he was quoted as saying. ''The crowd surged forward, and the police hit them with clubs. There was stone throwing and then gunfire.''

The news agency said the police had banned the march in anticipation of violence, detaining 500 people and arresting 800 others in the rioting itself.

''The Satanic Verses'' was banned in India soon after it was published last year, and none of the protesters are likely to have read the book, which many Muslims regard as blasphemous. Earlier this month at least 3 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in clashes between the police and the rioters in the northern state of Kashmir, which has a Muslim majority and borders on Pakisan.

In Pakistan, 6 people were killed and 83 wounded when the police opened fire on demonstrators outside an American information center in Islamabad who demanded the banning of the book in the United States.

A leading Muslim figure in New Delhi, Syed Abdullah Bukhari, the chief cleric at the city's largest mosque, has endorsed Iran's condemnation of Mr. Rushdie and the calls for his killing.

The recent tension over Mr. Rushdie's book has aggravated existing sectarian problems, especially in northern India, officials say. MUSLIMS WARNED IN BRITAIN

LONDON, Feb. 24 (Special to The New York Times) - Home Secretary Douglas Hurd warned Muslims in Britain today that they could seriously damage the country's race relations by supporting death threats or violent protests against Mr. Rushdie.

Speaking at the Central Mosque in Birmingham, Mr. Hurd acknowledged that Muslims were ''grieved and hurt'' by Mr. Rushdie's novel. He said that Muslims had a right to protest against the book but that their opposition must remain within the rule of law.

''The law gives you the freedom to express your protests, peacefully and with dignity,'' Mr. Hurd said in his prepared text, copies of which were made available in London. ''British Muslims are entitled to speak out in defense of their religious faith and to protest about a book which they believe denigrates and insults the Prophet of Islam. But to turn such protests towards violence or the threat of violence is wholly unacceptable.''

In another twist in the controversy, the Speaker of Iran's Parliament, Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani, said today that if any Muslim carried out Ayatollah Khomeini's order to kill Mr. Rushdie, the action should not not be blamed on Iran or its Government.

Mr. Rafsanjani seemed to be trying to distinguish between what he portrayed as a religious obligation that may be carried out by faithful Muslims and official actions of the Iranian Government. The comment appeared to be an attempt not to sever bridges with Western countries.