1984 anti-Sikh riots case: SC takes SIT report on record, information about fake case given to court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday took on record the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. According to media reports, senior advocate HS Phoolka on Thursday apprised the Supreme Court of the fake case registered in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. Senior advocate HS Phoolka referred to the SIT report, which was filed on November 29, 2019. According to the SIT report, FIR number 433/84 was registered in police station Kalyanpuri, while the police sent a challan in connection with the murder of 56 people by linking different cases. The trial court framed charges with respect to the murder of only 5 persons and no change was made in respect of the remaining murders.

The SIT report said that the witnesses were produced before the court and gave evidence about the murders of their loved ones, but since no charges were framed in respect of the rest of the killers and the accused persons. So the testimony of the witnesses became useless and no one was punished. The report also said that it is not known why charges were framed for only 5 murders and not 56 murders and why the trial court did not order separation of trial for each incident of offence.

According to the SIT report, after perusing the judgments found in these files, it is revealed that when the witness told the court that he had witnessed the incident and that the culprits could be identified, the public prosecutor had selected several accused persons present in the court. He was not even asked to identify the rioters. A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha took the report of the Special Investigation Team on record and adjourned the hearing for two weeks. The court also directed senior advocate HS Phoolka to file the note. The court was hearing petitioner S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, who had sought the court's direction to constitute an SIT to ensure speedy justice to the riot victims.

Simultaneously, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea of ​​Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq, seeking reconsideration of his decision to award death sentence in the 2000 Red Fort attack case. had. Three people, including two army personnel, were killed in the attack. A bench of Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi said it has allowed the application for consideration of 'electronic records'. The bench said that we accept the application that 'electronic record' should be considered. He has been proved guilty. We uphold the decision of this court and dismiss the review petition. Arif is one of the culprits of the terrorist attack on the Red Fort on 22 December 2000.