1984 anti-Sikh riots: Supreme Court refuses to stay reinvestigation in case against Jagdish Tytler

The Supreme Court today declined to stay the reopening of a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case involving senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler. Refusing to interfere in the case, the top court in its ruling said the case is already scheduled for hearing in the Delhi High Court in September and that "such cases should reach their logical end". The Delhi High Court had on July 3 issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Mr Tytler's appeal against a trial court order, issued in April, reopening the case.

The trial court's order came on a plea filed by riot victim Lakhwinder Kaur, who sought a further probe into the killing of three people near Gurdwara Pul Bangash in old Delhi. Mr Tytler is accused of instigating a mob that led to the murder of three men who had taken shelter at the gurdwara on November 1, 1984. The mob attack was part of the violence against Sikhs after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31 that year by her bodyguards.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/1984-anti-sikh-riots-supreme-court-declines-to-interfere-in-case-involving-jagdish-tytler-391190?pfrom=home-otherstories

1984 riot: Sajjan Kumar’s acquittal challenged
The kin of victims of the 1984 anti-sikh riots moved the Delhi High Court on Saturday challenging the acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar by a trial court on April 30, in a case where five member of a family were murdered in the Delhi Cantonment area. They said the trial court while acquitting Kumar, former outer Delhi MP, on April 30 had “failed to appreciate evidence furnished by key witneses”. The CBI, which probed the case has not yet decided on filing an appeal. Jagdish Kaur who lost her husband, son and three cousins and Nirpreet Kaur who lost her father in the riots, also sought compensation for the deaths. Sajjan’s acquittal had triggered widespread protests by the Sikh community. The trial judge had said Kumar deserved to get “benefit of doubt” as key witnesses were untrustworthy and inconsistent in their versions. The court had said Kaur who told the court that she saw Kumar leading a mob had not stated this fact before the police after the riots or the Rangnath panel which probed the riots. Filing the appeal, their lawyer HS Phoolka said the trial judge ignored the fact that key witnesses had said enough to prove that Kumar had “engineered” the murders. The appeal said the court had in its judgmentslammed the police for its silence, inaction like refusal to register FIRs and referred to collusion by the police, but did not consider it while deciding Kumar’s case. “CBI’s probe showed that the police did not record the statements of witnesses naming Kumar. CBI also found that Jagdish Kaur’s statement of November 3, 1984, naming Kumar had been removed from the records by the Delhi Police. It was highly erroneous for the trial court to have ignored this aspect,” Phoolka said.
1984 carnage - 5 convicted, main accused Sajjan Kumar acquitted
NB- When Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency in 1975, Sanjay Gandhi became the de-facto commander of her goon squads in a very short time. He was the person who launched the vasectomy campaign, as well as the brutal slum clearances that led to the bulldozing of workers dwellings in Turkman Gate. Sanjay was the most hated and dictatorial figure during that time. He made no secret of his contempt for the Constitution and for lawful practices. He was the outstanding manifestation of the criminalization of the polity. This was further proven by the fact that several of Sanjay Gandhi’s henchmen (Sanjay himself died in an air crash in 1980) were associated with the Delhi carnage of 1984. It is worth noting that the RSS/BJP  have not only taken Sanjay Gandhi's descendant into their fold, they have elevated him to high office. It is also worth remembering that the BJP’s voters transferred their support to the Congress in the 1985 Lok Sabha elections. (Why else did the BJP win only 2 seats?). The Sanghi’s should examine their consciences when they talk about 1984 – if they disapprove of the carnage of Sikhs, why have they appropriated the strongest living emblem of the Emergency and of 1984? Congratulations to Tehelka for this extremely important expose:

Varun is now perhaps unique in the history of the Indian legal system. He had three cases against him with 88 prosecution witnesses. Every single one of them has turned hostile. Just this is enough to raise suspicions. Surely, the higher courts need to take note of it. It’s not just Varun’s reputation that is at stake, but the whole idea of credible courts. If the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots had been brought to book, perhaps the carnage of 2002 would have been less vile and rampant, if not stemmed altogether. The political patronage given to the perpetrators of 1984 gave rise to people like Babu Bajrangi and Maya Kodnani. If Varun had been meted proportionate punishment in time, perhaps Akbaruddin Owaisi would have learnt to hold his tongue..
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2013/05/how-varun-gandhi-silenced-system.html

Popular posts from this blog

Third degree torture used on Maruti workers: Rights body

Haruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning

The Almond Trees by Albert Camus (1940)

Rudyard Kipling: critical essay by George Orwell (1942)

Satyagraha - An answer to modern nihilism

Three Versions of Judas: Jorge Luis Borges

Albert Camus's lecture 'The Human Crisis', New York, March 1946. 'No cause justifies the murder of innocents'