NEW DELHI: Special Judge Shiv Narain Dhingra on Saturday convicted two persons accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case to five years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fine of Rs 30,000 each for “indulging in acts of noting with lethal weapons. The accused, Bihan and Ranjan, were found guilty of having committed the acts of violence. The case against these two persons, which had been committed to trial in December 1994, was initiated on the basis of the testimony of riot victim Nirmal Kaur. Ms. Kaur has said the two, along with a group of rioters, had broken into her house on November 2, 1984 following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, They were armed with several weapons and looted her house of all valuable items. Ms. Kaur could only recognize four persons from the entire mob. While Bihan and Ranjan were arrested. Pappu and Salim managed to get away and have been absconding ever since. They have also been declared “proclaimed offenders” by the court. In Saturday’s sentence, Mr. Dhingra ordered that for committing of offense under section 148, the two accused were to undergo RI for two years and pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each. In case of default on payment of the fine, a further RI of one year has to be undergone. In relation to the offense under section 395, the judge ordered that Bihan and Ranjan were to undergo five years RI and pay an Rs 20,000 fine each. In case of default, a further RI of a year and a half has been ordered. Mr. Dhingra ordered that all sentences were to run concurrently and the period the accused had spent in judicial custody was to be offset from the duration of sentence.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 9, 1996
