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Sikh body moves NHRC against Bhagat in anti-Sikh riot case
New Delhi, Aug 01: A day after NHRC petitioned the Supreme Court for a fresh trial outside Gujarat in the Best Bakery case, a Sikh body today asked the commission to take up one of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases here in which senior Congress leader H K L Bhagat was acquitted despite the main witness throughout supporting the prosecution case.
New Delhi, Aug 01: A day after NHRC petitioned the Supreme Court for a fresh trial outside Gujarat in the Best Bakery case, a Sikh body today asked the commission to take up one of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases here in which senior Congress leader H K L Bhagat was acquitted despite the main witness throughout supporting the prosecution case.
In a letter to the Nhrc chairman Justice A S Anand, the Sikh forum, representing the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, regretted the Delhi government did not file any appeal in the case and Darshan Kaur (wife of deceased) was forced to approach the Delhi High Court Against Additional Sessions Judge Manju Goel's order passed on December 20, 2000.
Darshan Kaur, on whose statement Bhagat was summoned as an accused in the case, had clearly stated in the court that Bhagat had instigated the riots in which her husband was killed in Trilokpuri in East Delhi.
In Tirlokpuri area alone 310 innocent Sikhs were brutally massacred in two days on November 1 and two 1984 following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, the forum said in its letter to the NHRC chairman.
"Darshan Kaur withstood the rigorous cross-examination by a battery of lawyers of bhagat and had clearly stated in the court that Bhagat had given orders to kill Sikhs. In spite of the said statement, the judge acquitted Bhagat on technical ground of defective investigation and minor contradictions," it said.
The forum requested the commission to recommend to the state government to adopt the appeal filed by Darshan Kaur, which is already pending in the Delhi High Court.
Bureau Report
Darshan Kaur, on whose statement Bhagat was summoned as an accused in the case, had clearly stated in the court that Bhagat had instigated the riots in which her husband was killed in Trilokpuri in East Delhi.
In Tirlokpuri area alone 310 innocent Sikhs were brutally massacred in two days on November 1 and two 1984 following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, the forum said in its letter to the NHRC chairman.
"Darshan Kaur withstood the rigorous cross-examination by a battery of lawyers of bhagat and had clearly stated in the court that Bhagat had given orders to kill Sikhs. In spite of the said statement, the judge acquitted Bhagat on technical ground of defective investigation and minor contradictions," it said.
The forum requested the commission to recommend to the state government to adopt the appeal filed by Darshan Kaur, which is already pending in the Delhi High Court.
Bureau Report