The Delhi government informed the Supreme Court yesterday that it would file an appeal challenging the acquittals of six accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member S Gurlad Singh Kahlon. In 2018, the Supreme Court had constituted an SIT on Kahlon’s petition to investigate 199 cases whose investigation had been closed.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Delhi government, told a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuiyan that it has decided to challenge the acquittals in the Supreme Court. Considering the arguments, the bench directed the Delhi government to file an appeal within six weeks and said that the special leave petitions be placed before Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna so that they can be linked to the present case.
During the hearing, senior advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for petitioner Kahlon, said that the decisions show that the prosecution was in collusion with the accused in this case. He said that these are not ordinary cases. In this, the case was hidden and the state did not prosecute properly. These cases are crimes against humanity. Earlier, the court had questioned the Delhi Police for not filing an appeal against the acquittal of the accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases and had said that the trial should be conducted seriously, not just for show.
It is worth mentioning that in 1984, after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards, there was large-scale violence in Delhi and people from the Sikh community were killed. According to the report of the one-member Nanavati Commission formed to investigate the violence, 2733 people were killed in the massacre. In this connection, 587 FIRs were registered in Delhi. Out of the total cases, about 240 cases were closed by the police and the accused were acquitted in about 250 cases.
