Supreme Court orders fresh probe in 186 anti-Sikh riot cases

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to appoint a new three-member Special Investigation Team to probe 186 anti-Sikh riot cases that were closed by an earlier government-appointed SIT without any probe.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said the three-member SIT would be headed by a former high court judge and have a former IPS officer not below the rank of IG and a serving IPS officer.

The bench, which also included Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, said it would notify the names of the SIT on Thursday.

The bench passed its order after going through the report of the supervisory panel it had appointed in August last year.

The panel, which included former Supreme Court judges Justice J.M. Panchal and Justice K.S.P. Radhakrishnan, and a retired IPS officer, was asked to scrutinise the decision of the SIT to close 241 cases related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots and submit a report. The panel’s confidential report was submitted to SC in a leather box with a number lock system.

In its brief order on Wednesday, the bench said the panel has found that out of 241 cases, 186 cases were closed without investigation. Therefore, a new SIT was being set up to probe these cases afresh.

A total of 3,325 people were killed in the 1984 riots. Delhi alone accounted for 2,733 deaths, while the rest occurred in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.

The reopening of the anti-Sikh riot cases could have political ramifications in the run up to 2019 general elections.

Despite promises made before every election, and at least 12 inquiry commissions and committees, justice hasn’t been delivered to the victims of the massacre.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal hailed the Supreme Court’s decision and said, “Thirty-three years have been lost. Many witnesses have passed away. Many others have become very old and infirm. We must ensure speedy trials to ensure those who perpetrated the anti-Sikh genocide do not escape justice.”

The new SIT, he added, should inquire into the functioning of officers of the Delhi Police who are alleged to have deliberately weakened cases against several Congress leaders.

Amnesty India tweeted, “Great news! This Supreme Court order rekindles hopes of justice for the 1984 Sikh massacre. The new SIT must not repeat the first team’s mistakes. Investigations must be transparent and time-bound.”

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre had constituted a committee headed by G.P. Mathur on December 23, 2014, to examine the anti-Sikh cases pending since 1984. On the committee’s recommendation an SIT was set up on February 12, 2015, comprising IPS officer Pramod Asthana, former district judge Rakesh Kapoor and additional DCP Kumar Gyanesh.

On March 24, 2017, the apex court had asked the Centre to put before it the files pertaining to the cases of the anti-Sikh riots which the SIT had decided to “close”. It was submitted that so far chargesheets had been filed in only four cases and there was inordinate delay in the probe. Further, 241 out of 293 cases had been closed by the SIT without any justification.

Responding to the petitioners’ allegation of delay in the probe, the Centre informed the court that the government has all the right intention to render justice to the riot victims as early as possible. Explaining the “inordinate delay” alleged by the petitioner and consequent weakening of cases, the home ministry admitted that the lapse of 33-years was taking a toll on collection of relevant documents and case files from police stations and courts.

In many cases, documents were in Urdu or Gurmukhi, which delayed their scrutiny, it said.  

Nagendar Sharma, media advisor to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “1984 riots is a clear case of India’s two big parties having worked in tandem to scuttle any serious investigation into the worst riots in Delhi’s history in which at least 2,800 people were massacred in Delhi alone. You save us in 1984 — we’ll save you in 2002.”