Prosecution in 1984 riots not just for sake of it: SC | Latest News Delhi

Filing appeals against acquittal in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots should be done “seriously” and not as a “formality”, the Supreme Court said on Monday as it asked the Centre whether any efforts are being made to engage senior, experienced lawyers to seek reopening of the cases that had ended in acquittal.

A bench headed by justice Abhay S Oka said, “You (Centre) must tell us whether any senior counsel will be engaged to argue these cases,” as it went through the latest status report filed by the Anti-Riots Cell of the Delhi Police informing the court about its decision to file appeals in the top court against six orders of acquittals passed by the Delhi high court.

“This has to be done seriously and not just for the sake of it,” said the bench, also comprising justice Ujjal Bhuyan, on going through the report presented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati.

She said, “In one matter which I am handling, the difficulty faced is the absence of evidence. The SIT under former Delhi high court judge (justice SN Dhingra) submitted its report in April 2019 seeking fresh appeals to be filed in eight cases. The question is of evidence.”

The bench told the law officer that its concern was not about what the consequence of the appeal will be. “Looking into the conspectus of the case, we are saying that it should be attempted not as a formality.”

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by former Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) member S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, on whose plea the top court in 2018 constituted an SIT led by justice Dhingra to probe 199 cases where investigations stood closed.

The status report presented to the court contained a communication issued by the Delhi Police earlier this month asking the concerned district police heads where the six riot-related cases were filed to initiate steps for filing appeals in the top court against the dismissal orders passed by the Delhi high court. Following justice Dhingra committee’s recommendations, only two appeals were filed in the Supreme Court which resulted in dismissal.

Senior advocate HS Phoolka representing the petitioner and victims, along with advocate Amarjit Bedi, said that the filing of appeals was done for the sake of “formality” pointing out instances where Dhingra committee cited lapses in investigation that led to cases of murder and gang-rape not being registered and probed.

“The police say filing of charge sheet is the discretion of the trial court and police cannot do anything. No serious attempt is being made to conduct the probe,” Phoolka said. ASG Bhati tried to persuade the bench that the police did its job by giving an example where charge sheet was filed for murder of 56 people but the trial court framed charges only for murder of five people.

The bench said that instead of having a “piecemeal” hearing on each individual case, it will consider what directions can be passed in all cases. “At a stroke we will decide,” the bench said, allowing the petitioners to present judgments in support of their case.

Out of the 199 cases examined by the SIT, 54 cases were of murder involving 426 people; 31 cases involved bodily injury to about 80 people; and 114 cases related to rioting, arson and loot. In a majority of instances, the case was either closed on account of the accused or witnesses remaining untraced. The SIT found out that hundreds of affidavits were filed by victims or witnesses before the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry that probed into the 1984 riots. Later, many of them retracted their statements as the delayed trial left them tired and discouraged.

Referring to the SIT report submitted to the Centre in April 2019, ASG Bhati said that though the SIT found “lacunae” in the investigation and trial of several cases, it was of the opinion that further investigation cannot be taken up. In instances where the SIT recommended filing of appeal against acquittal, the cases got dismissed due to the prolonged delay.

Delhi witnessed large-scale violence and killings of those belonging to the Sikh community following the then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her bodyguards in 1984. According to the Nanavati Commission, which probed these cases, there were a total 587 FIRs registered in Delhi in relation to 1984 riots in which 2,733 people were killed. The police shut about 240 cases as “untraced” and about 250 cases resulted in acquittals.

The SIT in its report said, “The whole efforts of the police and the administration seem to have been to hush up the criminal cases concerning riots…All 199 cases were scrutinized for possibility of further action but in none of the cases further investigation is possible.”

The SIT, also comprising IPS officer Abhishek Dular, added, “The basic reason for these crimes remaining unpunished and culprits getting scot-free was lack of interest shown by the police and the authorities in handling these cases as per law or to proceed with the intention of punishing the culprits.”