Second death sentence in 1984 anti Sikh riots

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 20

Twenty-two years after the first death sentence was awarded to Kishori Lal, a murder convict in the anti-Sikh riots, Delhi’s Patiala House Court today pronounced capital punishment for Yashpal Singh — convicted of murdering two Sikh youths in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984.

  Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey, however, awarded life sentence to Naresh Sehrawat, the second convict in the case involving the gruesome killing of 24-year-old Hardev Singh and 26-year-old Avtar Singh in South Delhi’s Mahipalpur on November 1, 1984. The court considered the failing health of 68-year-old Sehrawat while giving him a lighter sentence than Yashpal Singh, 55.

“We are happy with the verdict although we would have liked to see both convicts hang. We will consult our lawyers about whether to appeal. Today is a big day for the community as the judge has delivered a fearless verdict, applying a balm on the long simmering wounds of the Sikhs. We hope this sentence will encourage the families of other victims to come forward and resume the fight for justice they had given up,” 71-year-old Santokh Singh, the eldest brother of victim Hardev Singh, said.

It was on Santokh Singh’s complaint that an FIR was filed on April 29, 1993, following the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission. The police closed the matter as untraced despite witness testimonies of the deceased’s four brothers, who were in Delhi today to see justice being done.

They came all the way from Jalandhar’s Daroli Kalan village, where they have settled since 1985. All the brothers of victim Hardev Singh were full of praise for Jagdish Kumar, the investigating officer of the Special Investigation Team formed by the Centre on February 12, 2015, to re-investigate the cases. The SIT completed the trial in the current case in record time.

“Had it not been for the SIT, we would have never got justice,” said Kuldeep Singh, another brother of the victim. Kuldeep Singh was also injured in the mob attack at their hideout in Mahipalpur on the fateful day but survived along with two of his other brothers.

The mob was allegedly led by one Congress leader JP Singh, who was not brought to trial since he was once acquitted in the same case on December 20, 1986. The acquittal came in the first FIR ever filed in the Mahipalpur killings on the same day as the crime. Nothing came out of that FIR too.

In his judgment, ASJ Pandey said the accused came armed with iron rods, kerosene oil and other weapons with the intention to kill. They first torched the grocery shop of Singh brothers and then proceeded to murder them.

“All of us were dragged out but only Hardev and our customer Avtar Singh were thrown down the first floor roof. They had no chance,” said Kuldeep Singh.

Even today, Hardev’s family cannot believe that justice has finally arrived. 

“The police used to destroy our evidence,” said Santokh Singh, crediting the DSGMC with legal and financial help to depose before the SIT.  “We have to bring JP Singh back to trial,” Singh said, recallinghow his parents died waiting to see justice being delivered. 

CHRONOLOGY OF CASE

Nov 1, 1984: A “mob led by then Congress leader JP Singh” and comprising Yashpal Singh and Naresh Sehrawat torches Sikh shops in Mahipa-lpur, killing  Hardev Singh (24) and Avtar Singh (26) by beating them and throwing them off first floor

Nov 1, 1984: FIR registered at the Mehrauli police station, chargesheet names JP Singh. A Sessions Court acquits JP Singh on December 20, 1986

April 29, 1993: FIR in same case registered again at Vasant Kunj police station after Hardev Singh’s eldest brother Santokh Singh names all accused on oath before Ranganath Mishra panel

Feb 9, 1994: Delhi Police close the case as untraced. Metropolitan Magistrate accepts the  closure report

Feb 20, 2015: BJP-led government forms SIT to reinvestigate  serious criminal cases which were filed in the NCT of Delhi in 1984 riots and were closed

Nov 14, 2018: ASJ Ajay Pandey of Patiala House Court finds Yashpal and Sehrawat guilty