1984 riots: Witness asked to segregate documents from file

A court here Wednesday asked a witness to separate the documents which the defence can see from the file relating to sanction for prosecution of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others facing trial in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Testifying as a prosecution witness in the case, Vishwendra Singh, the then deputy secretary (home) of the Delhi government and now private secretary to the Lt. Governor of Delhi, was asked by District Judge J.R. Aryan to separate those documents in the file which the defence lawyers can see and which they cannot see, being official communication.

The court was hearing a plea by Singh, seeking exemption from producing the complete file related to grant of sanction to prosecute the Congress leader.

Singh has also been asked to sort out the part of the file on which he is claiming privilege.

The court has fixed Feb 17 as the next date of hearing in the case.

Sajjan Kumar has opposed the plea saying the prosecution cannot withhold documents as the court has to see whether sanction granted by government to prosecute the accused was valid or not.

Sajjan Kumar, Brahmanand Gupta, Peru, Khushal Singh and Ved Prakash are facing trial in connection with the killing of a man in the Sultanpuri area of the national capital in the riots that took place after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The court had earlier framed various charges, including murder and rioting, against them.