Front-row seat for Tytler at Cong event: Sirsa says party ''intimidating'' witnesses : The Tribune India

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Front-row seat for Tytler at Cong event: Sirsa says party ''intimidating'' witnesses

NEW DELHI: A controversy erupted today over former MP Jagdish Tytler’s occupying a front row seat at a Delhi Congress event with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) accusing the grand old party of trying to scare witnesses of the 1984 Sikh carnage, even as the Congress pointed out that Tytler had not been convicted in the matter.



Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 16

A controversy erupted today over former MP Jagdish Tytler’s occupying a front row seat at a Delhi Congress event with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) accusing the grand old party of trying to scare witnesses of the 1984 Sikh carnage, even as the Congress pointed out that Tytler had not been convicted in the matter.

Moments after 74-year-old Tytler took his seat, SAD spokesperson and Rajouri Garden MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa slammed the Congress for attempting to “intimidate” Sikh riot case witnesses by openly “patronising” him. 

“Tytler was seated in the front row at an event where Sheila Dikshit took over as Delhi Congress president only to threaten witnesses of the 1984 Sikh carnage and prevent them from deposing against the accused. The Congress is frustrated after Sajjan Kumar’s conviction in a 1984 case and is resorting   to petty tactics to scare away riot survivors and witnesses. It is afraid that Tytler and Kamal Nath may be jailed for their role in the riots,” Sirsa claimed. He quoted the Delhi High Court as saying Sajjan Kumar had escaped justice for years owing to political patronage.

The Congress accused the Akalis of “politicising a tragedy”. Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia said, “The Congress has always said it will respect the court verdict in every 1984 Sikh riot case. We respect the decision on Sajjan Kumar. But Tytler has not been convicted by any court. Contrast this with the history of BJP president Amit Shah. 

The Congress gave India its first Sikh PM. Our support for the Sikh community is for everyone to see. The Akalis should stop exploiting the grief of the Sikhs to further their political agenda.” 

The controversy comes on the eve of a January 31 Delhi court hearing in the Gurdwara Pul Bangash case in which Tytler is a suspect. Three Sikhs were burnt alive after a mob attacked the gurdwara in November 1984. After Sajjan Kumar’s conviction, this is the second case of anti Sikh-riots involving a former Congress MP. The case was one of the three that Nanavati Commission had ordered to be reopened, the other two being the killing of five members of Jagdish Kaur’s family in Delhi Cant (in which Sajjan Kumar has been convicted for life) and Sultanpuri killings in which Sajjan Kumar is facing trial.

In the Tytler case, the CBI had filed three closure reports in 2007, 2009 and 2014. Delhi’s Karkardooma courts, however, rejected the closure report on December 4, 2015, on a protest petition by one Lakhwinder Kaur, who lost her husband in the attack. The CBI is to file a report on January 31 on a lie detector test on witness Abhishek Verma.  

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