Expressing serious concern over the closure of large number of cases, a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, AM Khanwilkar and Amitava Roy asked the ASG to respond by the first week of October.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta to inform it about the Centre's opinion on appointment of a committee for monitoring the probe in to the cases closed by the Special Investigations Team (SIT) in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Expressing serious concern over the closure of large number of cases, a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, AM Khanwilkar and Amitava Roy asked the ASG to respond by the first week of October.
The order was passed in relation to a petition filed by S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), who had sought the apex court's directions in setting up of the SIT to ensure speedy justice to victims of the communal riots.
Appearing for the victims, senior Advocate HS Phoolka submitted that of late, more than 50 more cases were closed by the three-member SIT.
Phoolka also challenged an acquittal granted to former MLA Mahender Singh Yadav in 1986. "The case was disposed off in three months without a single witness being summoned," Phoolka said. Yadav's case is one of the five cases that were reopened for investigation by the Delhi High Court on March 29 earlier this year.
The court accepted Phoolka's submission and will hear the matter in October.
Earlier in March, on the heels of a petition filed by S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, the top court had asked the Home Ministry constituted SIT to submit all the files pertaining to the reinvestigation of the 199 cases pertaining to communal riots.
A total of 3,325 people were killed in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states in the riots after Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. Delhi alone accounted for 2,733 deaths.
The 1984 Sikh riots are considered to be one of the most violent cases of communal violence after the partition in 1947. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its 2011 World Report stated, "The government has yet to prosecute those responsible for the mass killings of Sikhs that followed the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Delivery of justice for mass violence against Muslims in Mumbai in 1992-93 and in Gujarat in 2002 has been slow."
ANTI-SIKH RIOTS
- A total of 3,325 people were killed in the riots after Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
- Delhi alone accounted for 2,733 deaths.
- The 1984 Sikh riots are considered to be one of the most violent cases of communal violence after the partition in 1947.
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