Give 199 case files of ’84: SC

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 24

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to produce files pertaining to 199 cases relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots closed by a special investigation team (SIT).

A Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that the files be produced in three weeks and posted the matter for April 25.

Two years after the Modi government set up an SIT to re-probe serious anti-Sikh riots cases that had been closed, the SIT has filed chargesheets only in four of the 59 cases taken up for further probe.

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Almost 3,000 persons were killed, most of them in Delhi, in the anti-Sikh riots that broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

In a status report filed in the Supreme Court last month, the Ministry of Home Affairs said 38 of the cases taken up for further probe had been closed, while 17 were still under investigation.

On Friday, AG Rohatgi told the top court that four more cases had been closed and only 13 remained under probe. However, the report had said: “It is being ensured that the investigation is carried out expeditiously and thoroughly. No stone is being left unturned to ensure a thorough and comprehensive investigation.”

The report was filed in response to the direction from the top court, which is hearing a PIL filed last year.

The MHA, which last month extended the tenure of the SIT up to August 11, has also written to the Delhi Government and the High Court for designating a single court for anti-Sikh riots cases. The SIT has been notified as a police station having jurisdiction over the entire Delhi.

Apart from the 59 cases in which further investigation was carried out, 293 were taken up for scrutiny and 199 of them have been closed, the MHA had told the court.