Anti-Sikh riots: Court dismisses pleas for case transfer

A Delhi court today dismissed pleas of three accused, who along with Congress leader Sajjan Kumar are facing trial in a 1984-anti-Sikh riots case, seeking transfer of the case on the ground of jurisdiction.
District Judge Rakesh Siddhartha, who recently took charge of the court, rejected the applications. A detailed order would follow.
Sajjan Kumar, Brahmanand Gupta, Peeriya and Ved Prakash are facing trial on charges of murder and rioting in the case of killing of Surjit Singh in Sultanpuri area of West Delhi.
The petitions were moved by Gupta, Peeriya and Ved Prakash for transfer of the case from Karkardooma district court in East Delhi to Rohini district court on the ground of jurisdiction.

Advocate Anil Kumar Sharma, who was representing Gupta and Peeriya, had earlier argued that court should implement the Delhi High Court's 2013 order asking sessions judges to transfer the cases as per their jurisdiction.
The defence counsel had contended that the case needed to be transferred to Rohini district for want of jurisdiction as the alleged occurrence pertained to Sultanpuri area and not in the jurisdiction of this court.

CBI prosecutor D P Singh had opposed the plea saying as per the provisions of CrPC, a district judge does not have the power to transfer a case from his division to another as such power lies only with the High Court.

He had submitted that a similar riots case, also involving Sajjan Kumar and others, was earlier decided by the same court but the accused had not raised the transfer issue then, which showed "malafide intention and malice" on their part.
Earlier, the order on the pleas was reserved for January 31 by District Judge Talwant Singh, who got transferred to another court before pronouncing the verdict.
The court in July 2010 had framed various charges, including murder and rioting, against Kumar, Gupta, Peeriya, Khushal Singh and Ved Prakash in connection with killing of the man in Sultanpuri in the riots which had occurred in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Accused Khushal Singh has since died.

The trial court had also framed charges for the offence of spreading enmity between two communities against the accused in the case.
CBI had filed two charge sheets against Sajjan Kumar and others in January 2010 in the riots cases registered in 2005 on the recommendation of Justice G T Nanavati Commission which had probed the sequence of events leading to the violence.