HC TO CONCLUDE HEARING OF PLEAS IN THREE WEEKS

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court Tuesday said it intends to conclude in three weeks the hearing of appeals challenging the trial court’s verdict in the 1984 antiSikh riots case in which Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was acquitted.

A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel commenced hearing on the appeals filed by the CBI, riots victims and the convicts and said that it proposes to conclude it in 20 days. The court listed the matter for day-to-day hearing from Wednesday.

When the bail plea of a convict, former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, came up for hearing, the court told the counsel that if the appeals are not decided in three weeks, he could press the bail application.

Khokhar, who has been lodged in Tihar Jail here since his conviction by the trial court in the case in May 2013, has sought the relief saying he should be granted regular bail till the pendency of appeals filed against the trial court’s verdict in the riots case.

During the day, senior advocate RS Cheema gave an overview of the entire case to the bench. Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others were held guilty in a case relating to the murder of five members of a Sikh family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984, after the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi.

They had challenged their conviction and the award of life sentence by trial court in May 2013.

The trial court acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the case but awarded life term to Khokhar, Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal and a three-year jail term to two others — former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar. The convicts have filed appeals before the HC challenging the verdict.