NEW DLEHI: The centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it is clear from the records that trial in several 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases was conducted in such a manner that resulted in acquittal of accused rather than their conviction. A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan was told by additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre and Delhi Police, that they had filed appeals against the acquittals but they were dismissed on ground of delay.
Bhati submitted that on January 11, 2018, the top court had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) headed by former Delhi high court judge S N Dhingra to investigate 186 cases related to the 1984 riots.
She said that the SIT examined the cases and recommended filing of appeals against acquittals in a number of cases.
She referred to the latest status report filed by Delhi Police in this regard and said that eight appeals were filed which were dismissed by the Delhi high court and in some cases the decision was upheld by the top court.
The bench said the Centre will have to take a decision on why all the orders of acquittal and dismissal were not challenged before the appellate courts.
“I can’t go beyond the affidavit but what we can say is that it is clear from the records that trial in many of the cases was conducted in such a manner that resulted in acquittal of accused instead of their conviction,” additional solicitor general Bhati said, adding that the centre has filed appeals as recommended by the SIT.
The bench said it was not able to locate the status report of the centre and would like to go through it first.
It posted the matter for hearing on next Monday.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by Gurlad Singh Kahlon who is being represented through advocates Amarjeet Singh Bedi and Gaganmeet Singh Sachdeva seeking direction to implement the recommendation of the SIT.
On December 20 last year, the top court had directed the centre to file a fresh status report within two weeks on the status of trials in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases.
Delhi witnessed large-scale violence and killings of persons from the Sikh community following the then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her bodyguards in 1984 and the cases stemming from the incident have seen some major twists and turns 40 years on.
According to those at the forefront of the legal fight on behalf of the victims and their kin, while there have been significant milestones reopening of cases and prosecution of political heavyweights the road to justice is a long one.
As per the Nanavati commission report, there were a total 587 FIRs registered in Delhi in relation to 1984 riots that witnessed 2,733 people being killed. Of the total, the police shut about 240 cases as “untraced” and about 250 cases resulted in acquittals.
However, it was only in May 2023 that the central probe agency CBI filed a chargesheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the killings of three people on November 1, 1984.
The CBI alleged Tytler “incited, instigated and provoked the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurdwara in Azad Market area in the national capital on November 1, 1984. The incident resulted in the burning down of the gurdwara and killing of Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Guru Charan Singh.”
