NEW DELHI: Forty Three accused in the 1984 riots were convicted last week by Additional District and Sessions Judge Shiy Narain Dhingra at the Karkardooma courts.

This is the first time that convictions on such a large-scale have been made in the riots that broke out after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi 11 years ago.

The convicts were sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 for rioting and six months with a fine of Rs 1,000 for violating curfew orders. Both the sentences are to run concurrently. The convicts were, however, ordered to be released on interim bail for a month after they pay the fine amount to enable them to file appeals in the High Court. Twenty eight convicts paid the fine and were released on bail.

The convicts were arrested from Shel Khureja on November 3, 1984, around 1:30 pm by the SHO of the Gandhi Nagar Police Station and the patrolling army. At the time of arrest, the convicts were violating curfew orders and indulging in general violence and arson.

They were charged under sections 147, 188, 436 read with 149 and 302 read with 49 of the IPC, Sections 147 and 188 pertaining to riot and violation of curfew were proved, but the See 436 pertaining to arson and Sec 302 of murder, were not proved. “The public witnesses turned hostile and expressed their inability to identify those charged with murder,” said the Special Public Prosecutor A B Tandon, former Director of Prosecution.

According to the order, atthe time of arrest, the convinces were armed with fronrods and when the SHO arrived at the spot, two TSR’s had been burnt and a granthi of Jheel Gurdwara, Santokh Singh, had been killed and set afire by the rioters. The police had to resort to firing and bursting teargas shells to disperse the crowd.

Forty four persons were arrested from the spot, of whom two are absconding and have been declared proclaimed offenders. An order on a total of 43 convictions was passed last week.

The counsel for the accused had pleaded that their clients belong to poor families, have never been convicted before and have been facing trial for over 10 years, as such they should be dealt with leniently.

Tandon, however, held that keeping the extent of damage done during the riots they should be given exemplary punishment.

Dhingra stated in the order, “The persons were fully aware of the fact that innocent lives were being taken, I consider that they do not deserve, any leniency.”

Those convicted are Chander Pal, Ram Gopal Mathura Prasad, Shami, Balbir, Kallu, Davinder, Kamal Kishore, Mohinder, Madan, Mahavir, Khem Chand, Nand Kishore, Mohinder, Nisamuddin, Kanta Prasad, Banwari Lal, Subhash Chand,Nisam, Jagmal, Brahm Pal, Sohan Lal, Mohd Azad, Shabir Ahmed, Farid Ahmed, Rahimuddin, Ashlam,Radhey Shyam, Kamal, Kallu, Shamshad, Nawab, Mustaq, Atiq Ahmed, Kamal Kumar, Radhey Shyam, Subhash Chand, Nawal Kishore, Naresh Kumar, Subhash Khanna, Pawan Kumar, Anwar Ali, Rakesh and Rammu. Allthe riotcases pending in Shahdara were transferred to Dhingra’s court after the recent judicial transfers from the court of S.S. Bal.

The Special PP also moved an application before the court last week pertaining to another riot related case FIR number 426/84 of Police Station Kalyan Puri, According to the PP, the SHO had arrested 107 people on November 3, 1984 and had also arrested ‘over 200 people on the two preceding dates.

All these were charge sheeted together, Tandon’s contention was that the charge sheets should be separate as the cases pertain to different area and different dates.

The 107 arrested from the spot should be tried separately and the others tried separately to expedite the trial proceedings which have been going or for over a decade, This application was accepted by Dhingra.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 22, 1995