Govt moves ahead on ’84 riots’ reinvestigation

New Delhi, December 23

Ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, the government today set up a committee to examine the possibility of constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for reinvestigation of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

The move assumes significance as 2,733 victims of the total 3,325 victims of anti-Sikh riots belonged to the national capital.

The committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice (retired) GP Mathur, will submit its report within three months, a Home Ministry official said.

The BJP had earlier demanded reinvestigation into all cases related to the 1984 riots which had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh body guards.

The Justice Nanavati Commission had recommended reopening of only four of 241 cases closed by the police. The BJP wanted a reinvestigation into all cases.

Supreme Court lawyer HS Phoolka, who has been fighting the anti-Sikh riot cases, had in an open letter to former Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, demanded that an SIT be set up to probe the 1984 riot cases.

Phoolka said that of the 241 related cases, only four were reopened and reinvestigated by the CBI. In two cases, the CBI had filed a chargesheet and in one of the cases, five persons, including a former MLA, were convicted.

Phoolka said if the remaining 237 cases were reopened, it would result in more convictions. The committee will look into various grievances relating to the anti-Sikh riots. It was set up after the Home Ministry received a large number of complaints from various individuals and associations.

The committee will also oversee the implementation of the payment of enhanced compensation of Rs5 lakh per person killed during the riots, as approved by the Union Cabinet on December 10. — PTI