SC directs Centre to file status report on 1984 anti-Sikh riots trials

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to file a fresh report within two weeks regarding the status of trials in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih requested Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to submit an affidavit and allowed the petitioners in the case to file detailed objections.

During the hearing, Bhati said the recommendations of the special investigation team, set up by the top court, were carried out, reported PTI.

A counsel appearing for one of the petitioners submitted that there were some glaring instances in the SIT report and said that 500 cases were clubbed into one FIR, and the investigating officer could not investigate them.

"There were many instances where 498 cases were clubbed in one FIR and IO had to investigate all of them. When the hearing began, the court initially felt it should be confined to Delhi only. But we have done nothing about other states. We have given examples of Kanpur, Bokaro, etc., but nothing has happened," he said. The top court assured that it will look into all these aspects.

Delhi witnessed large-scale violence and killings of individuals from the Sikh community following former PM Indira Gandhi's assassination by her bodyguards in 1984. 

According to those at the forefront of the legal fight on behalf of the victims and their kin, there have been significant milestones, such as the reopening of cases and prosecution of political heavyweights.

As per the Nanavati Commission Report, there were a total of 587 FIRs registered in Delhi in relation to the 1984 riots that witnessed 2,733 people being killed. The police shut about 240 cases as "untraced", and about 250 cases resulted in acquittals.

However, it was only in May 2023 that the CBI filed a chargesheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler for his alleged role in the killings of three people on November 1, 1984.

The CBI alleged Tytler "incited, instigated and provoked" the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurdwara Azad Market area in the national capital on November 1, 1984. The incident resulted in the burning down of the gurdwara and the killing of Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Guru Charan Singh.