HC upholds conviction of 89 in 1984 riots

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court (HC) on Wednesday upheld a trial courtconvictionof89peopleforrioting, burning houses and breaching curfew in Trilokpuri area in east Delhi during the 1984 anti-sikh riots.

Justice RK Gauba dismissed the appeals of the convicts who had challenged a 1996 judgment of a Sessions Court which had convicted the 89 arrested on Nov.2, 1984.

According to the FIR lodged in connection with the Trilokpuri killings, 95 people died in the rioting and 100 houses were burnt, said senior advocate HS Phoolka, who has been representing the riot victims.

The 1984 riots followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Hundreds of innocent Sikhs were killed, mainly in Delhi.

Among the 89 convicts, some died during their appeals and the case against them has abated, police had earlier said.

Convicting all the 89 for various offences including rioting, the trial court sentenced them to ive years in jail.

On Nov.20, a Delhi court awarded death penalty to convict Yashpal Singh and ordered life imprisonment to another, Naresh Sherawat, for killing of two men during the 1984 anti-sikh riots.

In the irst verdict after the riotsrelated cases were reopened by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2015, the court held that Singh’s offence fell under the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty. The Delhi Police had closed this case in 1994 for want of evidence.

The SIT is investigating nearly 60 cases related to the riots, while it has iled “untraced report” in 52 cases.

Stop calling them riots. It was a one sided affair. The killings were done by Congress directed mobs. Sikhs played no role in it. They were the victims.