A total of 3,325 people were killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which Delhi alone accounted for 2,733 deaths, while the rest occurred in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states. Will this spell trouble for Congress leader Kamal Nath?
New Delhi: A Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by the Union home ministry, has decided to reopen seven anti-Sikh riot cases, where the accused were either acquitted or the trial closed, according to an official notification.
After the notification became public, Delhi MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said senior Congress leader and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath had allegedly given shelter to five people who were accused in one of the seven cases.
Speaking to media, Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, "Nath was never named in the FIR registered in New Delhi's Parliament Street police station. Five persons named as accused in the case (FIR No. 601/84) were accommodated in Nath's residence. All these accused were discharged due to lack of evidence."
"The witnesses were Sanjay Suri, who now lives in England, and Mukhtiyar Singh, who is now in Patna," he said.
According to the home ministry notification, the SIT has taken up the discharged cases for scrutiny or preliminary enquiry. The seven anti-Sikh riot cases were registered in 1984 at police stations in Vasant Vihar, Sun Light Colony, Kalyanpuri, Parliament Street, Connaught Place, Patel Nagar and Shahdara.
The SIT has issued public notices asking individuals and organisations to provide information related to the seven cases.
"This is to inform all individuals, groups of persons, associations, institutions and organisations that if they have any information with respect to any of the cases, they may contact the officer-in-charge of SIT police station," the SIT said.
In May 2016, the home ministry had announced that 1,020 families, which had been hit by the riots and migrated to Punjab from different parts of the country, will be given Rs 2 lakh each as part of a centrally-sponsored rehabilitation scheme.
Last Updated Sep 9, 2019, 8:36 PM IST