Delhi HC seeks Centre, Delhi Police reply on Sirsa plea

Justice Ravinder Dudeja issued notice on the application and directed the authorities to file their replies by January 15, 2026, when the matter will be taken up next.

Sirsa’s application seeks a direction to place on record a report said to have been submitted by Gautam Kaul, who was then Additional Commissioner of Police, to the Police Commissioner.

According to the petitioner, the document explicitly noted Nath’s presence at the gurdwara during the incident.

Senior advocate HS Phoolka, representing Sirsa, argued that the police record and contemporaneous newspaper accounts had documented Nath’s presence, yet the government’s status report did not consider these aspects.

The application has been filed in Sirsa’s main petition of 2022 seeking action against the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister for his alleged role in the violence during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The high court had earlier, on January 27, 2022, asked the Special Investigation Team to file a status report on the matter.

In his main plea, Sirsa has sought Nath’s arrest and has also asked the SIT to act in relation to an FIR lodged at the Parliament Street police station in 1984. The FIR had named five accused who were allegedly sheltered at Nath’s residence; they were later discharged for lack of evidence. Nath himself was never named in the FIR.

The case concerns a mob attack on Gurdwara Rakab Ganj in which two Sikhs, Inderjeet Singh and Manmohan Singh, were burnt alive. Sirsa has claimed that the mob was led by Nath, who has consistently denied all allegations.

In September 2019, the SIT decided to reopen seven riot cases in which the accused had either been acquitted or the trials closed. Following the decision, Sirsa alleged that Nath had provided refuge to five individuals accused in one of those cases. He said since the case was being reopened, two witnesses would depose before the SIT about Nath’s purported role.

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots erupted after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.