Charges framed against 12 in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 6

A city court today framed charges of rioting, unlawful assembly, murder, disappearance of evidence, mischief, dacoity, murder and conspiracy against 12 persons accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in the Babarpur area in northeast Delhi. 

Seven persons, including five women, had been killed there. The next hearing is on August 29.

The case was registered on the basis of a complaint registered by Shardul Singh whose family members were killed during the riots. The case was pending in court. It was re-opened and fast-tracked by the SIT constituted by the Union Government on the invention of former Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Addressing mediapersons, chairman of the legal cell of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Jagdip Singh Kahlon said for the killing of seven persons of a family, charges were framed under Sections 302, 201, 396, 436, 120-B, 144, 147 and 148 of the IPC.

The case had been registered at the Shahadra police station on the basis of a complaint by Shardul Singh. His father Natha Singh, mother Surjit Kaur, brother Kashmira Singh, sisters Bimla Kaur, Kamaljit Kaur, Nirmal Kaur and Urmil Kaur had been killed in the incident.

The accused in the case were identified as Dhanbir Singh, Rattan Singh, Om Singh, Virender Singh, Rajinder Singh, Rajpaul Singh, Ashok Kumar, Jagdish, Vijay Singh, Brahm Singh, Kailash Jain and Kalicharan.

Shardul in the complaint stated that at about 5.30 pm on November 2, 1984, a mob of about 200-300 persons came to his house armed with iron rods, sticks, country-made pistols, revolvers and kerosene. They threw kerosene oil and burning clothes into the house. The mob fired at all the family members, looted the house and set it on fire. The mob was looking for him but he ran away and hid in an old building.

He said he reported the matter to the police on November 12, 1984. Sub-inspector Tulsi Dass was told the whole sequence of events but Shardul was pressurised into making a statement that he had no grievances. On September 19, 1985, Shardul submitted an affidavit to the Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission, but no action was taken against the accused. With the efforts of the DSGMC, a SIT was constituted. The accused are being tried in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Jagdish Kumar at the Karkardooma district court.

DSGMC, SGPC members to meet Prez today 

Representatives of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Takht Patna Sahib and Takht Sri Hazur Sahib will meet President Ram Nath Kovind on June 7. They will demand that a commission be constituted to probe the 1984 killings at the Akal Takht and Darbar Sahib, Amritsar. The representatives will also demand compensation for the defence personnel who had left their jobs to protest the attacks and for those who were killed during the attack.