1984 riots: HC asks Centre, police to reply on plea over on Kamal Nath

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response of the Centre and police on a plea by city minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa seeking production of a police officer's report which had allegedly mentioned presence of Congress leader Kamal Nath during a riot at Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib here in 1984.

Justice Ravinder Dudeja issued notice to the police and the central government on the application and asked them to file their replies on or before January 15, 2026, the next date of hearing.

The application sought a direction to the authorities to place on record the report submitted by Gautam Kaul, the then Additional Commissioner of Police, to the then police commissioner categorically showing the presence of Nath at the scene of crime, that is, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib.

Senior advocate H S Phoolka, representing the petitioner, submitted that Nath's presence at the scene of crime was well documented in police records besides multiple newspapers had mentioned his presence at the place and time of the incident but those aspects were not considered by the government in its status report.

The application was filed in Sirsa's main petition seeking action against former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Nath for his alleged role in the case relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The high court earlier on January 27, 2022 asked the SIT to file the status report on the petition.

Sirsa, in the petition filed in 2022, has sought a direction that Nath be arrested without further delay.

He sought direction to the SIT to take action against Nath in the FIR lodged in 1984 at Parliament Street police station here in which five persons were named as accused in the case and were allegedly accommodated at the Congress leader's house.

Those accused were discharged due to a lack of evidence. However, Nath was never named in the FIR.

The case is related to a mob of rioters storming the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib here. The petition said two Sikhs, Inderjeet Singh and Manmohan Singh, were burnt alive in the compound of the gurudwara by a mob allegedly led by Nath.

Nath had previously denied the charges.

The SIT, in September 2019, had decided to reopen seven anti-Sikh riot cases, where the accused were either acquitted or the trial was closed.

After the notification had become public, Sirsa had claimed that Nath had allegedly given shelter to five people who were accused in one of the seven cases.

"Nath was never named in the FIR registered in New Delhi's Parliament Street police station. Five persons named as accused in the case (FIR No. 601/84) were accommodated in Nath's residence. All these accused were discharged due to a lack of evidence.

"Since the SIT will reinvestigate this case also, two witnesses will appear before the SIT where they will tell about Nath's role in the riots," Sirsa had said.

The anti-Sikh riots had broken following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.