1984 anti-sikh riots: Prosecution demands death for two convicts

The SIT on 1984 anti-Sikh riots Thursday sought death penalty for two persons convicted by a court here, saying that it was part of a "genocide" against members of a particular community and fell under the rarest of rare category of cases warranting the capital punishment.

Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey reserved for November 20 the order on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to Naresh Sherawat and Yashpal Singh for killing Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh in Mahipalpur area of South Delhi during the riots.

It was the first conviction in the cases reopened by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up in 2015. Delhi police had closed the case in 1994 for want of evidence. However, a SIT on the riots reopened it.

The SIT demand was opposed by the counsel appearing for the convicts who sought life imprisonment for his clients, the minimum for the offence of murder.

During the proceedings, the public prosecutor for SIT Surinder Mohit Singh said that it was "brutal murder of two innocent young persons aged around 25 each. It was a planned murder since the accused were carrying kerosene oil, sticks etc."
"Every Sikh condemned the act of killing of the Prime Minister. It was tragic. But does that mean that Sikhs be killed? Does that give licence to kill?