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SC hearing on reopening anti-Sikh riot cases today

Fresh status report by Delhi Police on panel’s suggestions to be taken up
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The Supreme Court will on Monday take up a fresh status report filed by the Delhi Police on the implementation of recommendations of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by Justice SN Dhingra (retd) on reopening of 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases.

The matter is listed before a Bench led by Justice AS Oka which had on January 27 deferred the hearing as the papers were not in order and it needed to peruse the documents filed by the parties.

Ahead of the crucial hearing, BJP national spokesperson RP Singh has written to Home Minister Amit Shah highlighting that no trial was held in the case relating to the murder of Joginder Singh, husband of Surjeet Kaur, and an incident of murder of six persons was never investigated.

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Noting that a “chargesheet was filed with regard to the murder of 56 persons, but the trial court framed charges only for the murder of five persons and no charges were framed regarding the remaining 51 persons,” Singh wrote. He said the peculiar facts of this case were not brought to the notice of the Delhi High Court which dismissed the appeal only on the ground that an earlier appeal of a case from a different police station was dismissed.

“I reiterate on behalf of Sikhs and the citizens of India that the Government of India must look into the matter on priority and take appropriate steps against the perpetrators and those who shielded them,” Singh wrote. The Delhi Police have filed a fresh status report on the implementation of the report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Justice SN Dhingra (retd) on the investigation into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. The Delhi Police status report talked about eight cases in which appeals were filed as recommended by the Dhingra Committee but the same were dismissed by the Delhi High Court. At least in two cases, the appeals against the High Court’s order were also rejected by the top court, it said.

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However, petitioner Gurlad Singh Kahlon alleged that the SIT report has been dealt with a “complete lack of seriousness and in a casual manner” and that the Delhi Police merely filed statutory appeals against acquittals and the same were dismissed on the ground of delay.

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

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