1984 riots: HC asks SIT to respond to plea for action against Cong leader

The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the SIT to file a status report on a plea seeking action against Congress leader Kamal Nath for his alleged role in a case relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by the Union Home Ministry, on the petition filed by BJP's Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on March 28.

In a statement, Sirsa said it has been more than 37 years since the Sikh community is awaiting justice in these (anti-Sikh riots) cases. Though some success was achieved with the sentencing of Sajjan Kumar (Congress leader) to life imprisonment but still much more it to be done as other guilty Kamal Nath and other Congressmen are yet to be tried and sentenced.

He added, today's decision of the high court has rekindled a hope in the community that every guilty will get punishment for his sins.

Sirsa, in his petition before the high court, sought direction to the SIT to take action against Nath in the FIR lodged in 1984 at Parliament Street police station here in which five persons were named as accused in the case and were allegedly accommodated at Congress leader's house.

Those accused were discharged due to a lack of evidence. However, Nath was never named in the FIR.

Sirsa in the petition has sought a direction that Nath be arrested without further delay.

Sirsa was represented through senior advocate Maninder Singh and lawyer Gurbaksh Singh.

The case is related to a mob of rioters storming the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib here.

Nath had previously denied the charges.

The SIT, in September 2019, had decided to reopen seven anti-Sikh riot cases, where the accused were either acquitted or the trial was closed.

After the notification had become public, Sirsa had claimed that former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath had allegedly given shelter to five people who were accused in one of the seven cases.

"Nath was never named in the FIR registered in New Delhi's Parliament Street police station. Five persons named as accused in the case (FIR No. 601/84) were accommodated in Nath's residence. All these accused were discharged due to a lack of evidence.

"Since the SIT will reinvestigate this case also, two witnesses will appear before the SIT where they will tell about Kamal Nath's role in the riots," Sirsa had said.

According to the Home Ministry's 2019 notification, the SIT has taken up the discharged cases for scrutiny or preliminary enquiry.

The seven anti-Sikh riot cases were registered in 1984 at police stations in Vasant Vihar, Sun Light Colony, Kalyanpuri, Parliament Street, Connaught Place, Patel Nagar, and Shahdara.

The SIT had issued public notices asking individuals and organisations to provide information related to the seven cases.

Sirsa had claimed that Kamal Nath's name was never included in the FIR nor was he investigated by the police.

The SIT was set up on February 12, 2015, following a recommendation by the Home Ministry-appointed Justice (retd) G P Mathur committee. The three-member SIT comprises two Inspector General-rank IPS officers and a judicial officer.

The anti-Sikh riots had broken following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.