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1984 RIOTS

Convictions in 1984 anti-Sikh riots,

but big fish still roaming free

witnessed widespread rioting and kill- was the first conviction in the cases reo-
TEHELKA BUREAU ings of Sikhs in the national capital and pened by the SIT.
elsewhere. Last month, the Delhi Patiala House
According to the FIR lodged in con- Court awarded death sentence to Yash-
emesis is the punishment nection with the Trilokpuri incident, pal Singh and handed another convict
that is inevitably followed 95 people had died in the rioting and Naresh Sherawat life imprisonment
by hubris. When the Delhi 100 houses were burnt. The convicts for their role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The
High Court upheld the con- had challenged the August 27, 1996 verdict was pronounced in Tihar Jail
N viction of 70 of the 89 per- judgment of Sessions Court which had due to security concerns. The convicts
sons awarded a five-year jail term by a convicted 88 out of the 107 people ar- were previously attacked on the prem-
trial court for rioting, burning houses rested on November 2, 1984, for rioting, ises of the Delhi court during the hear-
and violating curfew in East Delhi’s burning houses and curfew violation in ing of the case on November 15.
Trilokpuri area during the 1984 anti- Trilokpuri area of East Delhi. Justice R K The two were convicted on Novem-
Sikh riots, the culprits have met their Gauba dismissed their 22-year old ap- ber 15 for killing two Sikh youths in
nemesis. peals against the conviction and asked Delhi’s Mahipalpur area after the assas-
The conviction of rioters for their all the convicts to surrender forthwith sination of former Prime Minister In-
role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots marks to undergo the prison term. dira Gandhi. Of particular significance
a rare success in the long struggles to is that this case, relating to a mob attack
bring the perpetrators to justice. The on shop-keepers in Mahipalpur, was
court noted that the anti-Sikh riots Of the 88 convicts in resurrected after being closed as ‘un-
were a “dark chapter” in the history of traced’ in 1994. The attack with deadly
independent India. “The police force the 1984 anti-Sikh weapons left two Sikhs dead and three
and the civil administration did not take riots’ cases who wounded. The Central government’s • Wounds reopen Police had closed cases of 1984 anti-Sikh riot for want of evidence. However, a Special Investigation Team on the riots reopened it
timely or effective action to prevent the decision in 2015 to form a Special Inves-
riotous conditions from spiraling out of moved the high tigation Team to reopen serious cases how influential men have managed to the police did not promptly register the ject” a “sense of neutrality” in the inves-
hand. The criminal law process began court, several have related to the 1984 riots has yielded re- evade the law. An appeal challenging crimes and collect evidence and the tigative and prosecution process.
but hesitatingly and belatedly. sults. Yashpal Singh, a goods transport- the acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan other agencies, including the prosecu- As many as 16 of the remaining 19
However, the question still arises, if died during the er, has now been sentenced to death, Kumar is in the Delhi High Court. tion and the trial court, “failed to rise to persons died during the pendency of
the big fish are still roaming free. Im- pendency of their and Naresh Sehrawat, the local post- The Delhi Police had closed the case the occasion”. appeals against the trial court’s August
mediately after the judgment was pro- man when the mob attack took place, to in 1984 for want of evidence. However, Justice Gauba noted that 95 bodies 27, 1996, verdict. The appeals of the re-
nounced, Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind appeals and the life. The trial court brushed aside minor a Special Investigation Team on the ri- were recovered after the rioting, 22 of maining three were dismissed after
Kejriwal tweeted “I welcome Delhi discrepancies in evidence and techni- ots reopened it. which remained unidentified and it they absconded. Justice RK Gauba asked
High Court judgment upholding the case against them cal objections to the fresh investigation Of the 650 cases registered in con- was likely that no prosecution was initi- the convicts to surrender forthwith to
conviction of 88 culprits responsible has abated being taken up. nection with anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, ated against anyone in respect of these serve their remaining prison terms.
for the murder of hundreds of innocent The investigation into the 1984 riot 267 were closed as untraced by the deaths. “This court directs the Com- From calling witnesses from Italy to
people in Trilokpuri during 1984 riots. cases has been severely hampered by Delhi Police. Of these 267 cases, the CBI missioner of Police, Delhi, to have the testify in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot case to
Justice has so far not been done to riot Of the 88 convicts who moved the the fact that large sections of the police later took five up. The SIT also scruti- material and evidence re-examined for publishing public notices, the Special
victims even after 34 years. Big fish are high court, several have died during the connived with the rioters, who included nised the records of 18 cancelled cases. further action... The large-scale rioting, Investigation Team formed in 2015,
still roaming free”. pendency of their appeals and the case Congress functionaries and supporters. The SIT found 60 cases appropriate mob violence, arson, plunder, genocide, took extensive measures to probe the
Welcoming the judgment uphold- against them has abated, police had In this very case, a long-time Congress for further investigation. It filed “un- and looting has been duly proved and 60 cases it had reopened out of the total
ing the conviction of around 88 peo- earlier said. functionary, Jai Pal Singh, had been traced report” in 52 cases in the last established... the judgment of the trial 293, and succeeded in getting a convic-
ple for rioting during 1984 anti-Sikh Earlier on November 20, a Delhi tried and acquitted by a magistrate’s one-and-a-half years. court must be upheld.” tion in the first case on Wednesday.
riots, Kejriwal said the “big fish” are still court had awarded death penalty to court as early as in 1986. However, the Out of the eight cases being inves- Dismissing the appeals of the con- A Delhi court Wednesday convicted
roaming free and justice has so far not convict Yashpal Singh for killing two witnesses who identified Naresh and tigated, charge sheets have been filed victs and canceling their bail bonds, the two people for killing two men during
been done to the riot victims even after men in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the first Yashpal among the 800-odd rioters at in five, and three, in which senior Con- court noted that after each communal the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
34 years. After the assassination of the capital punishment in the case. The Mahipalpur, had once again said Jai Pal gress leader Sajjan Kumar is an accused, riot, there were allegations of political Of the 650 cases registered in con-
then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi on court had also awarded life term to co- Singh was a prominent participant in are pending investigation. influences being the root cause and nection with anti-Sikh riots in Delhi,
October 31, 1984, the next couple of days convict Naresh Sherawat in the case. It the attack. This is just one instance of In its 79-page verdict, the court said therefore, there could be a need to “in- 267 were closed as untraced by the Del-

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