Several committees were set up to inquire into 1984 anti-Sikh riots: HC

Multiple committees and commissions were set up for conducting inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the violence that took place in 1984 in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Delhi High Court Monday said.

A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel noted that at first, the Marwaha Committee, headed by Ved Marwaha, began recording statements of victims as well as police officers involved.

The bench also said that even before the committee could complete the exercise, the Centre set up a one-man Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952 comprising Justice Ranganath Misra.

The statements recorded by the Marwaha Committee were to be handed over to and examined by the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission but for unexplained reasons, this was not done, the bench noted.

 

It also noted that later the inquiry was taken up by the Jain-Aggarwal Committee, which in its report of 1992, had recommended further investigations into the cases concerning the attack on the house of one Jasbir Singh, whose house was looted and the incident involving the deaths of the five members of a Sikh family -- Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh.

A supplementary charge sheet was filed on February 26, 1993 in the case relating to attack on Jasbir Singh's house, against four accused, however, it also ended in their acquittal by a judgment dated April 30, 1994.

In May 2000, the Justice Nanavati Commission was constituted. Its report was submitted on February 9, 2005.

The Nanavati Commission was of the view that there was credible material against Sajjan Kumar and Balwan Khokhar for recording a finding that the two of them were probably involved, as alleged by the witnesses, the bench said.

It also said that the recommendation of the Commission was to take further action after examining cases where the witnesses have accused Kumar specifically and yet no charge sheets were filed against him and those cases which were terminated as untraced.

The high court noted the role played by the various Commissions in its judgment convicting and sentencing Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to imprisonment for the remainder of his life in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.