1984 Anti Sikh Riots: Trial against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler to commence from October 3

Charges have officially been framed and the examination of witnesses (prosecution evidence) will begin on the next date of hearing. Lakhwinder Kaur, the wife of deceased Badal Singh – one of the three men who had died – is the first witness who will be examined forty years after her husband was killed by the kob.

After initially filing a closure report, giving a clean chit to Tytler, the CBI was directed to reopen the investigation against him in 2007. It was Kaur’s protest petition against the closure report which led to the case moving forward.

On two other occasions, in 2009 and 2014, the CBI closed the case against Tytler but the court refused to accept the report. In April 2023, the agency said it had fresh evidence against Tytler — a corroboration of his voice sample with a particular speech he made 39 years ago which allegedly connected him to the incident.

In its chargesheet filed in May 2023, the CBI had accused Tytler of “inciting, instigating and provoking the mob” that had assembled near the Pul Bangash Gurdwara at Azad Market, Bara Hindu Rao on November 1, 1984. A day earlier, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.

Relying on the testimony of a witness, the CBI had further said that Tytler instigated the mob by shouting “Kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother” — the “mother” being a reference to Indira Gandhi.