Eyewitness in 1984 case denies 'falsely' implicating Jagdish Tytler

A key witness in the Pul Bangash Gurdwara case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Saturday told a Delhi court that she was not pressured by the CBI or Sikh leaders to "falsely" implicate Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.

Earlier on Friday, Harpal Kaur Bedi, an eyewitness to the killing of three men by a mob that torched the north Delhi gurdwara during the riots, had deposed that she had seen Tytler instigating the mob and asking them to "loot and kill the Sikhs".

The 70-year-old woman eyewitness had also claimed before Special Judge Jitendra Singh that she kept mum, fearing for her only son's life and revealed Tytler's name for the first time in 2016 to the CBI after her son passed away.

 

During her cross-examination by Tytler's counsel on Saturday, Bedi said, "It is wrong to suggest that I was pressurised by the CBI or leaders of the Sikh community to name Jagdish Tytler in the case to falsely implicate him.

"It is further wrong to suggest that my entire testimony is a deliberate attempt to frame accused Jagdish Tytler in the case. It is wrong to suggest that my testimony is false and fabricated."  The court has posted the matter for recording the statement of another witness on July 21.

The CBI had on May 20, 2023, filed a chargesheet against Tytler in the case.

Tytler "incited, instigated and provoked the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurudwara Azad Market" on November 1, 1984, that resulted in the burning down of the Gurdwara and the killing of three Sikhs -- Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh -- the CBI alleged in its chargesheet.

The CBI had also said in its chargesheet that Tytler came out of a white Ambassador car in front of the gurdwara on November 1, 1984, and instigated a mob by shouting "kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother".

Anti-Sikh riots had erupted in several parts of the country in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.