1984 anti-Sikh riots: Supreme Court grants bail to 34 accused

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday granted bail to 34 persons accused in the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. The order follows a previous order passed by the top court granting bail to seven persons in the same case on July 5.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of Delhi Police, informed the SC that it has already filed a review against the earlier order acquitting seven persons in the Sikh riots case on July 5.

The accused persons were arrested after the Delhi High Court confirmed their conviction in November 2018. Their appeals are now pending in the SC. A top court bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, granted bail to the 34 accused facing murder charge.

Large-scale riots had broken out in the national capital, in the aftermath of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh security guards on the morning of October 31, 1984. The violence had claimed 2,733 lives in Delhi alone.