Anti-Sikh riots: HC seeks Delhi govt’s response on jobs to victims’ families
The Delhi high court Monday sought the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s response to a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging non-compliance of a 2006 circular of the Centre directing that the children or other family members of those killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots be provided jobs on compassionate grounds.
A bench of chief justice Rajendra Menon and justice VK Rao asked the AAP government in the national capital to submit a report indicating the status of the applications for employment it had received since the circular was issued.
The order came on a PIL filed by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), claiming that despite the passage of 12 years since the circular, not a single applicant was provided employment by the Delhi government.The
The Delhi high court on Monday reserved its verdict on the appeals challenging the trial court’s judgement in the 1984 antiSikh riots case in which Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was acquitted.
A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel concluded hearing arguments on the appeals filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), riots victims
bench listed the matter for further hearing on February 4.The DSGMC, represented by senior advocate APS Ahluwalia and advocate Harpreet Singh Hora, has contended in its plea that and the convicts and asked the parties to file written submissions, if any, by November 22.Former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, a retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others were held guilty in the case relating to the murder of five members of a family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984, after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.The trial court had acquitted Sajjan Kumar in
non-implementation of the scheme has led to “undue injustice and discrimination” being caused to the families of the anti-Sikh riot victims.Centre’s standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, the case but awarded life term to Khokhar, Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal and a threeyear jail term to two others former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.
They had challenged their conviction and sentencing by the trial court in May 2013.
The CBI has also filed an appeal, alleging they were engaged in “a planned communal riot” and “religious cleansing”. The CBI and the victims have also appealed against the acquittal of Kumar.
appearing for the ministry of home affairs, said according to the circular, the onus was on the Delhi government to provide employment to the family members of the riot victims.