Delhi BJP, SAD welcome SC decision for new SIT to probe 186

Delhi BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today welcomed a Supreme Court order to constitute a new three-member special investigation team to monitor the re-investigation into 186 cases related to the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 which were closed earlier.
Welcoming the decision, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari hoped that the families of the victims will get "justice in a time-bound manner".
He also said that after the Supreme Court's decision, the Congress and other political parties will not be able to raise the bogie of "political vendetta" now.
SAD-BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who also holds the post of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) general secretary, said that finally truth will prevail and Sikhs will get justice.

"The cases will be probed properly and justice will be delivered to the Sikh community that has been waiting for it for more than three decades," he said in a statement.
Large-scale riots had broken out in Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two Sikh security guards on October 31, 1984. The violence claimed 2,733 lives in the national capital alone.

Deciding to set up a new SIT, the Supreme Court today held that the previous SIT had not carried out further probe into the 186 cases in which closure reports were filed.

It said a supervisory body it had appointed found that out of 241 cases, 186 cases were closed without investigation.
On August 16 last year, the court had appointed the supervisory panel to examine the SIT's decision to close 241 cases.