1984 anti-Sikh riots: A year after SC order, SIT awaits its third member

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 3

Almost a year after the Supreme Court set up a new Special Investigation Team to further investigate 186 cases relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases closed by police in Delhi, the SIT headed by former Delhi High Court judge SN Dhingra is still awaiting appointment of its third member.

The SIT was to submit its first report in August. But the government has not been able to find a suitable replacement for retired IPS officer Rajdeep Singh—who was to be a part of the SIT along with Justice Dhingra and serving IPS officer Abhishek Dular—after he refused to take up the assignment for personal reasons.

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

Justice Dhingra — who heads the SIT—was a trial judge when punishments were handed out in 1990s to the accused of the Trilokpuri massacre of 1984.

Kishori Lal, dubbed as the ‘butcher of Trilokpuri’, was among those sentenced by him.

On Monday, the Supreme Court was told that it may not be necessary to find Singh’s substitute and the SIT can start probe with just two members.

Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand told a Bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta that the government had no objection if Justice Dhingra and Dular continued with their work without waiting for appointment of the third SIT member.

Since the January 11 order of setting up a three-member SIT was passed by a three-judge Bench, it can’t be modified by a two-judge Bench, said Justice Lokur and posted it for hearing on Tuesday.

The Bench is seized of a petition by S Gurlad Singh Kahlon—a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee — seeking further probe into anti-Sikh riot cases in the national capital.

When the ASG suggested the name of retired IPS officer NR Wasan to substitute Singh, the Bench said, “You cannot choose your own judge. Give two-three names,” the Bench told the ASG, who said that the apex court could appoint anybody to substitute Singh.

Senior advocates RS Suri and HS Phoolka said appointing a third member in the SIT might delay the process and the other two members should continue with their work.

Anand agreed with the suggestion made by petitioner’s counsel that the other two SIT members should continue with the work.

After coming to power in 2014, the Narendra Modi government had set up an SIT headed by Pramod Asthana, an IPS officer of 1986 batch to re-investigation the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.

Rakesh Kapoor, a retired district and sessions judge and Kumar Gyanesh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police, were the other two members.

The top court had in January noted that the previous SIT headed by Asthana had not carried out further probe into these 186 cases in which closure reports were filed.

It had taken the decision after perusing the report of a two-judge supervisory panel comprising Justice JM Panchal and Justice KSP Radhakrishnan which scrutinised 241 cases relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi closed by an earlier SIT formed by the NDA government for re-investigation.

After perusing the supervisory panel’s report submitted on December 6 last year, the top court had made it clear that it would not reopen cases in which accused had been acquitted.

So far charge sheets have been filed only in a small number of cases taken up for further probe by the SIT.