DELHI SESSIONS COURT ORDERS FIRST CONVICTION IN 1984 ANTI-SIKH RIOTS CASE

The Hon’ble Delhi Sessions Court, Patiala House has recently passed a judgment dated 14.11.2018 (Judgment) in State vs. Naresh and another thereby convicting two accused persons of injuring and killing people in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Mahipalpur, Delhi.

In 1984, a group of people had attacked, killed, injured and looted few people from the Sikh community in Mahipalpur (Riots). But owing to lack of sufficient evidence, the police had closed the case sometime in 1994.

Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs had set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2015 for investigating/reinvestigating the cases of 1984 Riots appropriately. In one such investigation, it has been established that an unlawful assembly of about 800- 1000 persons were involved in criminal conspiracy with one another and had committed the offences of rioting, dacoity, murder, grievous hurt, attempt to murder, mischief (by destroying shops), destruction of property at Mahipalpur, Delhi. The SIT is yet to investigate other cases of 1984 Riots.

The Delhi Sessions Court herein made the following observations in this Judgment:

The testimonies of witnesses about the ordeals and the incidents that happened during the Riots including the details about the slogans raised by the accused persons against the Sikh community, the arms and weapons carried by the accused, the manner in which they attacked the deceased persons, etc, have established that the common object of the unlawful assembly was to murder people from the Sikh community.

In order to implement their common object, the accused persons had manhandled the deceased persons and the witnesses, wrongfully restrained them, destroyed their house, looted their shops, attempted to murder the witnesses (who survived the injuries and testified against the accused) and killed others.

Therefore, the Delhi Sessions Court convicted the accused persons for committing offences of house breaking, hurt, assault, wrongful restraint, murder, voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapons or means, dacoity, etc. Reportedly, this is the first conviction among the reopened cases in the 1984 anti-Sikh Riots.

Reportedly, the Delhi Sessions Court is likely to provide the quantum of punishment for the accused persons on or around 22.11.2018.

Harini Daliparthy

Senior Legal Associate

The Indian Lawyer