A Delhi court pronounces death sentence on one and life term on another for killing two people during mob violence in the aftermath of the assassination of exPM Indira Gandhi
NEWDELHI: Victims of ‘mass genocide could not be left in the lurch and that their allegations should also be given a fair hearing, a Delhi court observed on Tuesday while sentencing two convicts in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey noted that for 33 years the two men had escaped the process of law and said that it is time for the court to rise upon the cry of the victims and the demand of the society. The court awarded death penalty to convict Yashpal Singh for killing two men during the riots — the first capital punishment in the case. Co-convict Naresh Sehrawat was given life term.
Judge Pandey said from the testimony of the eyewitnesses, it is clear that Yashpal had come to the spot in the bus on November 1, 1984 and that he was actively involved in the burning of shops of the deceased and the eye witnesses. The court also pointed that there was sufficient material and allegations in the affidavit given by one of the eyewitnesses, Santokh Singh, who is also the complainant.
The judge said there is no material before it to consider that convict Yashpal had reformed himself. “He appears to be playing gimmick with the court and victims to date. He appears to be purposely hiding his income and properties,” the court said.
“The court is of the opinion that if he did not repent for 34 years and his mentality did not reform when he was at large in society for such a long period. He attempted to mislead the court in order to escape his liability, his chances for reformation now are almost negligible,” the judge said.
While convicting the duo, the court has said that ‘fair trial should not be fair to only the accused persons. It also said that the accused had never been even arrested till the pronouncement of their conviction on November 14. “The court recalls the feelings of the victims when the eyewitnesses appeared before the court on November 5 and expressed their grief that the convicts were roaming at large,” the judge said.
Stressing on the need for justice in such cases, the judge said such incidents break the trust between communities which, once broken, cannot be restored, even after decades. “Incidents of this kind breaks entire fabric of trust and harmony against communities, severely affecting the knitting and assimilation of different religious and social groups,” the court said.
The verdict was pronounced in Tihar Jail after the local police moved a petition in the high court citing security reasons and possibility of attack on the convicts on the premises of the Delhi court, said a senior police officer.
Timeline of the Mahipalpur case
November 1, 1984: Two men were killed, three others injured after a mob armed with sticks and other weapons attacked them and threw them down from the first floor of a building in Delhi’s Mahipalpur. FIR (406/84) was registered at the Mehrauli police station the same day.
February 23, 1985: Chargesheet filed against Jai Pal Singh.
September 9, 1985: Santokh Singh, brother of three victims, filed an affidavit before Justice Rangnath Justice Ranganath Misra Commission that was formed to probe the killings for filing a separate case.
December 20, 1986: Sessions court acquitted Jai Pal Singh of all the charges. The other two accused Naresh Sehrawat and Yashpal Singh did not face trial.
1993: Fresh FIR was filed on Santokh’s affidavit on the recommendation of Justice JD Jain and DK Aggarwal committee
February 9, 1994: Metropolitan Magistrate TS Kashyap accepted the untraced (closure) report filed in the case by the Delhi Police, saying the police could not gather evidence to prosecute Sehrawat and Singh
February 12, 2015: Central government constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reopen and further investigate anti-Sikh riots cases, which were either cancelled or closed for want of evidence.
July 8, 2016: The SIT intimated the Patiala House Court about re-opening and further investigation of the case
January 31, 2017: The SIT filed the chargesheet against Sehrawat and Singh.
November 14, 2018: The court convicted the two men.
November 15, 2018: Sehrawat was assaulted by Delhi’s Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator Manjinder Singh Sirsa outside the courtroom moments after the court reserved its order on the quantum of punishment.
November 20, 2018: The court pronounced death sentence for Singh and life term for Sehrawat.