Court stays order to lodge FIR in 1984 anti-Sikh riot case

A city court today stayed an order of a magisterial court directing lodging of an FIR to probe the cause of death of two persons during the 1984 anti- Sikh riot.
Special Judge Pitamber Dutt stayed till February 7, the operation of magisterial court's January 23 order, on a revision petition filed by the police, saying a proper hearing is required in the case. He issued notice to the man on whose plea the trial court had passed the order for lodging an FIR.
The police challenged Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Sudhanshu Kaushik's order directing the concerned SHO to carry out thorough investigation after registration of FIR and furnish compliance report in 48 hours.

The magisterial court's order had come on a criminal complaint filed by Amrik Singh, a resident of Tilak Nagar in West Delhi, seeking lodging of FIR against then DCP of Delhi Police Amod Kanth and former ACP S S Menon.
Singh, who lost two of his family members during the riots, alleged that the two senior police officers violated the constitutional right of the complainant and his family and misused the power conferred on them.
"... In gross violation of law, arrested innocent citizens including women and minor children and subjected them to utmost curelty," the complaint said.

The ACMM said "investigation needs to be carried out to collect evidence and find out the cause of death of Amir Singh and Narender Singh. The grievance of complainant and his family members needs to be redressed."

The complainant alleged that the two men were tortured
and murdered by police officials.
Police opposed the plea for FIR, saying a petition was filed by the complainant in Delhi High Court in 2011 in this regard which was dismissed and alleged that the family had started indiscriminate firing from their house and the two men had sustained bullet injuries in cross firing in 1984.
The trial court rejected the police's contention saying it was not convincing, as in the high court, the man had sought directions to Ministry of Home Affairs to withdraw the gallantry awards conferred on the police officials and in the criminal writ petition, he had sought registration of FIR but had later withdrawn the plea.

The trial court, while ordering FIR in the case, noted the complainant's version that there was no criminal history of the two men, who died when they were allegedly attacked by unruly mob during riots, and said there was sufficient material to show that the "death of these persons required to be investigated".
"The investigation of case .... Must have focused its attention on the circumstances that led to the death of Amir Singh and Narender Singh but no effort was done in that direction. The investigating agency started and concluded the investigation with a belief that these persons started indiscriminate fire on police and public.

"Surprisingly, no independent investigation was carried out inspite of the fact that a complaint in this regard was moved before the concerned SHO on November 16, 1984," it said, adding that it would be grossly unfair to reject the plea merely on the ground of delay.
The court was also informed that a Special Investigation Team has been constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate cases of 1984 riots and directed that a copy of its order be sent to concerned DCP to take appropriate steps for ensuring fair investigation.