Justice Dhingra will head SIT

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed former Delhi high court judge S.N. Dhingra to head the special investigation team to probe afresh the 186 anti-Sikh riots cases that were closed by the earlier SIT without any probe.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud had on Wednesday said it would name the panel on Thursday. Accordingly, additional solicitor general Pinky Anand and counsel for parties submitted a list of panels and the court passed the order directing justice Dhingra to head the SIT.

The other members are Rajdeep Singh IPS, (retd) and Abhishek Dular, an IPS officer serving in the BSF.

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. The panel on January 22, 2015 had recommended setting up of an SIT. On the basis of the recommendation, the government set up the Special Investigation Team on February 12, 2015 comprising IPS officer Pramod Asthana as its chairman. Members of the SIT are ex-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”.

Anti-Sikh riots that broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had claimed 2,733 lives in Delhi alone.