Challenge Sajjan’s bail in ’84 riots cases: Law min tells MHA
ANTISIKH RIOTS Home ministryappointed SIT likely to file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Sajjan Kumar’s bail
NEWDELHI: The law ministry has advised the home ministry to challenge a Delhi high court order upholding bail to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in two cases of murder and rioting pertaining to the 1984 anti-sikh violence in Delhi that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, an official familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The home ministry-appointed Special Investigation Team will now file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, the official said on condition of anonymity.
He did not reveal when this would be done although an order can be challenged within 90 days.
The high court’s decision came on February 22 and the court upheld a lower court’s decision of December 21, 2016, to grant anticipatory bail to the Congress leader.
The high court said “no grounds are made out by the petitioner (the SIT) for cancellation of anticipatory bail” by the lower court. It however expunged parts of the 2016 order that said the cases against Kumar were re-opened for “political considerations”, saying the trial court “could not have pre-judged the issues involved.”
The cases are related to the killing of Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh on November 1 and November 2 in areas of West Delhi. They were registered on the basis of an affidavit filed by Sohan Singh’s son Harvinder Singh before the Ranganath Misra Commission, set up to probe the widespread violence that followed the assassination in which a total of 3,325 people were killed, of which 2,733 deaths took place in Delhi alone.
Kumar declined comment and forwarded queries to his lawyer Anil Sharma , who said: “The SIT is within its right to file a petition; we will again contest it.” Sharma added that Kumar had secured bail earlier in 1990, 2010 and 2016. “The prosecution has never been able to provide evidence that he interfered with the case,” he said.
The SIT was set up by the home ministry in February 2015 to re-investigate the anti-sikh violence in Delhi on the recommendations of the Justice GP Mathur Committee. There were 650 cases pertaining to the violence in Delhi alone but over the years the Delhi Police closed as many as 241 cases citing lack of evidence.
The SIT has reportedly questioned Kumar four times since last year in connection with the violence.