NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has acquiesced three persons who had been convicted by a Tis Hazari sessions court two years ago for their alleged role in the anti-Sikhnots of November, 1984. The local court had held them guilty on charges of committing loot, arson and murder during the riots.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice P.K. Bahn and Justice S.D. Pandit, last week ordered the immediate release of Wazir Pradesh Sira Ram and Tobhuvan Noth, residents of Sultanpur in Went Delhi. Because of the lack of sufficient evidence.
The trio had earlier been sentenced to life by additional sessions judge J.B. Goel for their involvement in the murders of Himmat Singh, Sunder Singh and Wazir Singh Over 2,500 persons, mostly Sikhs and property worth crores of rupees were destroyed in Delhi in the first week of November, 1984 when riots broke out following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
The session’s court had primarily held the three persons guilty of the crime although it had remarked that “from the material on record. it cannot be said that the crime was planned by the accused or they had played the leading role.”
“This crime is not of personal enmity or vendetta. The occurrence is apparently the outcome of grave mob fury as a consequence of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,” the court had observed.
The trial court also noted that taking into consideration the totality of circumstances, “a lesser sentence of imprisonment to life will meet the ends of justice.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 13, 1995
