New Delhi, May 3: The Supreme Court has acquitted seven persons who had been convicted by the trial court and Delhi High Court for their alleged involvement in the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots. 89 persons, including the seven appellants, were convicted under Section 147, 188, and 436 of the IPC by the trial Court by its judgment dated August 27, 1996. 23 appeals were filed against the same in Delhi High Court.
The High Court had dismissed the appeals and had sentenced the appellants to Rigorous imprisonment for five years. The High Court had heavily relied on the evidence of Rijju Singh (PW-2), Pat Ram (PW-5), Shoorvir Singh Tyagi (PW-7) and Manphool Singh (PW-8) to convict the accused. PW is a plaintiff witness.
Referring to their deposition, the Apex Court bench comprising the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna observed that none of them has deposed that these accused were part of the unlawful assembly or they were involved in any acts.
The court observed that mere passive witnesses and those present as a matter of curiosity without intending to entertain the common objective are not guilty. Courts normally consider prudent to insist on at least two if not three reliable witnesses who vouch and identify that the accused was a member of the assembly that had indulged in rioting, arson, looting, the bench said.
What were the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots?
1984 Anti-Sikh Riots was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India in response to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The then ruling party, Indian National Congress had been inactive complicity with the mob, as to the organisation of the riots.[6] Independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000–17,000 whilst government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs were killed in Delhi. Violence continued in the early 1980s due to the armed Sikh separatist Khalistan movement which sought independence from India.