’84 riots: SIT wants death penalty for convicts

New Delhi, November 15

A Special Investigation Team probing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Thursday sought death penalty for two persons convicted by a court here, saying that it was a rarest of rare case.

Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey reserved for November 20 the order on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to Naresh Sherawat and Yashpal Singh for killing Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh in Mahipalpur area of South Delhi during the riots.

The SIT demand was opposed by the counsel appearing for the convicts who sought life imprisonment for his clients, which is the minimum for the offence of murder.

After the proceedings, while the convicts were being taken to the lock up inside the Patiala House Courts premises, MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa slapped one of the convicts—Yashpal Singh.

The Akali leader, who fought the 2017 by-poll for Rajouri Garden seat of the Delhi Assembly as a BJP candidate, said in a statement outside the court: “They killed innocent people in 1984. Still they are roaming the streets as goons. They were raising slogans that they will ensure we remembered the ‘84 riots”.

The case was lodged on a complaint filed by Santokh Singh, a brother of Hardev Singh.

Delhi police had closed the case in 1994 for want of evidence. However, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed in relation to the riots reopened the case.

The court on Wednesday had convicted the two accused—the first conviction in the cases reopened by the SIT.

The court held both the accused guilty under various sections including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 395 (dacoity) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the IPC. Agencies