Submit report on ’84 riots probe: SC

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, January 16

The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to file a “comprehensive status report” on the SIT probe into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, especially for reopening cases closed in haste.

A Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi posted the next hearing for February 20 as Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand sought four-week time for the purpose.

The Bench was hearing a PIL by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) member S Gurlad Sing Kahlon. Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel Arvind Datar contended that urgency was required in the matter as the extended tenure of the SIT would end on February 11.

Set up two years ago, the SIT was still “thinking of reopening 22 of the 220 cases,” Datar pleaded. ASG Anand, however, contended that “work is in progress” and sought time for the Centre to file a counter responding to the petitioner’s contentions.

In the earlier status report, the Centre had said the SIT examined 216 cases and identified 22 for reopening. In his PIL, Kahlon pleaded against further extension to the SIT and for bringing the team under SC monitoring so that there was no further delay in pursuing and disposal of riots-related cases.

The Centre had set up the SIT on February 12, 2015, for completing the task within six months, but the panel had already been granted extension for a year. Headed by Pramod Asthana, a 1986 batch IPS officer, the SIT includes former Session Judge Rakesh Kapoor and Delhi’s Additional Commissioner of Police Kumar Gyanesh.

Kahlon pleaded that SC monitor the probe as it did in the case of 2002 Gujarat riots to ensure expeditious trial of the accused.

The processes designed by the Centre time and again to provide justice for the victims of the 1984 riots were rather being used to suppress it, he pleaded. At least, 10 commissions and committees had so far gone into the riots, “but the reality is that the victims of the massacre are nowhere near justice even after the passage of three decades,” he pleaded.