A Delhi court today came down heavily on "contrived inaction" of the police and the government of the day which led to loss of "priceless lives".
A Delhi court today awarded life imprisonment to three persons for attempting to murder members of a Sikh family here in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and came down heavily on "contrived inaction" of the police and the government of the day which led to loss of "priceless lives".
Indicting the Delhi Police, the court said that "instead of showing their allegiance to the rule of law, our Constitution and the oath taken by them, a better part of their course was found toeing line of their political rulers".
Convicts Mangal Sen alias Billa, Brij Mohan Verma and Bhagat Singh, all in their 60s now, were also fined Rs6.20 lakh by additional sessions judge Surinder S Rathi after being held guilty of attempt to murder, rioting, dacoity in Shastri Nagar, north Delhi.
The court slammed the Delhi police and the government for its inability to tackle the riots that followed the assassination of the then PM Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
"History would never forgive the police officials who were at the helm of affairs and the government of the day for their unprecedented slothful and quiescent role.
"But for the contrived inaction and sluggish response of Delhi police and the government of the day, scores of priceless lives and valuable property could have been saved," the court noted.
The court also ordered that out of the total fine, Rs10 lakh would be given to victim Jagmohan Singh and Rs8 lakh to his younger brother Gurvinder Singh as compensation.
The anti-riots cell of Delhi police had probed the incident in which one Joginder Singh and his two sons Jagmohan and Gurvinder were seriously injured while their house was burnt by a mob led by the convicts on November one, 1984.
The role played by the police in the 1984 riots came under sharp attack from the court which said they acted at behest of their political masters.
"Facts available on records show that they are not totally insulated from political interference," it added.
"I see no justification in claiming that 1984 anti-Sikh riots were emotional outbursts of masses. There can be no justification, verbose or otherwise, to justify such mayhem and pogrom," the court said.
Terming the acts of convicts as "most unfortunate", the court said instead of coming to help their neighbours, they resorted to assault, looting and burning their houses.
Observing that such incidents reflected erosion of brotherhood, the court said "this is high time that the common citizens of our country need to introspect and analyse their psyche as to why such things ever happened and should ensure that no such things should ever take place again."
The court expressed dismay that no lessons are learnt from such tragedies and the country had encounter "religious and racist fanatism during the incidents Babri Masjid demolition and Gujrat riots where the role of police and government came under dark thick cloud and heavy criticism".
"Instead of joining hands to avoid recurrence of any such incidents, it is unfortunate that section of leadership of our country is using the mayhem for settling political score and fulfilment of their personal political agendas by cropping up names of individuals," ASJ Rathi said.
The court, in its order on sentence, also quoted the couplets of Saint Kabir to say that there cannot be any world if the protector himself becomes the destroyer.
The victim brothers Jagmohan and Gurinder, who came here to be present during the proceedings from Amritsar where they migrated after the incident, broke down when the judge pronounced the order on sentence for the convicts and compensation for them.
The duo termed the verdict late but satisfying.
The relatives of the three convicts, however, were in a state of anguish and started crying after hearing the sentence.
Their counsel Kulbushan Mehta said they would go for appeal against the judgement.
The case against the convicts was re-investigated by the police on a recommendation of justice Rangnath Mishra Commission in 1992 following an affidavit filed by Joginder Singh, who, however, died during the trial.
The court had framed charges under various provisions of the IPC, including that relating to attempt to murder, against the accused in 2001.
The prosecution produced nine witnesses, including sons of Joginder who had identified the accused during the trial to prove its charges against them.
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