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1984 Riots
The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would hear former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's plea against conviction and life-term imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case post Diwali break. The apex court's break begins October 20 following which it will resume work on October 27. Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, while hearing the matter, asked the counsel for the parties to specify about the allegations, testimony of witnesses and findings by the trial court and the high court in the case. "When the reversal was made, what persuaded the high court to make a reversal," the bench said. The high court had set aside the trial court's 2010 verdict which acquitted Kumar in the case. While senior advocate R S Cheema appeared for the CBI, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented Kumar in the top court. Besides Kumar's appeal, the pleas of co-convicts Balwan Khokhar and Girdhari Lal, were also listed for hearing in the apex court. The case relates to the killing of fiv
The Supreme Court has sought a response from the CBI on a petition filed by former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, serving life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, seeking suspension of his life sentence. A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Rajesh Bindal asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to get certificates from jail authorities on the convict's conduct and behaviour. Bhati told the court that Khokhar's bail was rejected on three occasions in the past. Besides Khokhar, former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar is serving life term in the case. Ex-MLA Mahender Yadav, who was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years, died of Covid in Mandoli jail. Kumar and Khokhar have been lodged in Tihar jail since their conviction on December 17, 2018. The Delhi High Court upheld Khokhar's sentence in 2018 and overturned Kumar's acquittal by the trial court in 2013. The case is related to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on ..
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Wednesday held a virtual meeting with chief secretaries, home secretaries and minority department secretaries of Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and eight states on action taken by them for granting compensation to the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims. The riots broke out after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. NCM chairperson Iqbal Singh Lalpura, members Syed Shahezadi and Rinchen Lhamo, and commission officials held the meeting with chief secretaries, home secretaries, secretaries of Minority Affairs Department of Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir, a statement issued by the commission said. During the meeting, the action taken by the governments for granting relief, compensation and justice to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was discussed, it said. The commission had sought informatio
The anti-Sikh riots of 1984 marks one of the darkest years in modern Indian history, a US senator has said, as underlined the need to remember the atrocities committed against Sikhs so that those responsible may be held accountable. Violence erupted in Delhi and other parts of the country after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed across India, mostly in the national capital. 1984 marks one of the darkest years in modern Indian history. The world watched as several violent incidents broke out among ethnic groups in India, with several notably targeting the Sikh community, Senator Pat Toomey said in his speech on the Senate floor. Today we are here to remember the tragedy that commenced on November 1, 1984, following decades of ethnic tension between Sikhs in the Punjab province and the central Indian Government, he said. As so often in such cases, the official estimates likely do not tell the .