'Government did not allow police to act during 1984 riots'

The government did not allow the Delhi Police to act during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, while creating an impression that the force was not performing its duties, a sting operation by a news portal has revealed.

"Messages were broadcast directing police to not take action against rioters who were shouting slogans of 'Indira Gandhi zindabad"," news portal Cobrapost said Tuesday.

"Some officers did not act for fear of punishment of being transferred," it added.

The revelation is a result of an investigation by the news portal to expose the complicity of Delhi Police officers in the anti-Sikh riots.

"The police did not allow the victims of rioting to file FIRs or when they filed FIRs, they clubbed many cases of murder and arson that took in different places in one FIR," it said.

It added that senior police officers did not allow their subordinates to open fire on rioters, and that even the fire brigade refused to move to areas where cases of arson were reported.

Cobrapost interviewed several police officers and also S.C. Tandon, the then chief of police and Gautam Kaul, the then additional commissioner of police.