1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Delhi HC overturns verdict freeing 4 people, orders retrial

Hindustan Times

13 hours ago

The Delhi High Court has overturned a 40-year-old verdict that had acquitted four individuals in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and ordered a retrial, observing that the earlier proceedings were conducted in a 'hasty manner' and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to undertake sufficient efforts to collect the evidence. The bench was acting on a plea initiated on its own to determine the correctiveness of the 1986 verdict. (Delhi HC website)
The case pertained to the killing of a Sikh man in Ghaziabad's Raj Nagar area, a day after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. The man's wife had alleged that certain persons attacked and set her husband and her house on fire, resulting in his death. However, in May 1986, the trial court acquitted the four accused of charges of arson and murder, citing contradictions between the woman's statements to the police and in court, as well as the delay in filing the complaint.
A bench of justices Subramanian Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar was acting on a petition initiated on its own to determine the correctiveness of the 1986 verdict, after it prima facie found fault in the manner of investigation and termed it as 'perfunctory.'
The proceedings were initiated, after the court observed that the same was being cited in appeals filed by five individuals — including Khokhar, Captain Bhagmal, and Girdhari Lal, Mahender Yadav, Balwan's brother Krishan Khokhar— against a 2013 trial court ruling that convicted them in the murders involving five Sikhs in the same locality and neither the state nor the victims had appealed the 1986 verdict.
Also Read: Delhi HC orders reconstruction of 1984 anti-Sikh riots case records to ensure fair trial
The bench in its verdict delivered on Monday, observed that the trial court's erroneous decision resulted in 'miscarriage of justice to the man's wife and children and deprived them of their fundamental right to 'fair trial.'
The CBI the court said in its 48-page ruling, also failed to undertake efforts for tracing the deceased's corpse coupled with the articles stolen from the house and failure to order 're investigation' 40 years after the incident, would result in turning a Nelson's eye to the society's needs and victim's rights of a 'comprehensive free and fair probe.'
The judges said that trial court 'gravely erred' in concluding that there existed a contradiction in the woman's testimony, there was enough material available to impeach her testimony and the CBI while probing the matter failed to undertake 'sufficient efforts' to associate all natural witnesses during investigation, including the deceased's children who were present at the time of the incident and any neighbours.
'These errors have resulted in miscarriage of justice which is evident from the fact that a grave offence of murder and arson with communal overtones has neither been investigated properly by the Investigating Agency, nor tried in right stead by the Ld. Additional Sessions Judge. Resultantly, the victims, including the wife and children of the deceased Harbhajan Singh, have been deprived of their valuable fundamental right under Article 21 to a fair investigation and trial which if not rectified may result in a loss of hope in our legal system and compromise the interests of society,' the bench said.
It added, 'As rightly stated by the Ld. Amicus Curiae, a bloodbath took place after the assassination of late Ms. Indira Gandhi, and as a result of the violence, widows, children and persons residing in the vicinity ran away for their safety and took shelter elsewhere, which naturally meant they would not have been readily available for investigation. That, however, would not absolve the Investigating Agency of its duty to make sure that the best evidence was gathered by taking recourse to the powers accorded under the CrPC, so that any gaps in the evidence could not be misused subsequently at trial by accused persons to get off the hook.'
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Vivek Sood submitted that the conclusion arrived by the additional sessions judge (ASJ) while acquitting the men was totally perverse, and deserved to be set aside. He submitted that the incident resulted in large scale violence, devastation of property, and displacement of affected persons and the complainant was forced to leave Delhi following her husband's death and loss of her residence.
While the counsel for the sole surviving accused, no useful purpose would be served in remanding the matter back to the Trial Court or directing any further re-investigation/fresh investigation.
The court in its verdict however clarified that the retrial only pertained to the sole surviving accused and abated against the three individuals who passed away and directed the CBI to expeditiously conclude the probe, taking note of the incident's date of occurrence.
The same bench in a different ruling, had also ordered the reconstruction of four-decade-old trial records in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, saying the victims' and society's right to a fair investigation and trial cannot be compromised by missing files or flawed earlier proceedings. The directive, issued to the trial court, concerns the acquittal of five men including former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar in the killing of four Sikhs in Ghaziabad's Raj Nagar.