Delhi L-G nod to file appeal in SC against 1984 riots case judgment

The High Court had held that there was no explanation for an inordinate delay of 27 years in filing the appeal against the trial court verdict, which had been pronounced on April 29, 1995, and that the grounds taken by the state were not justifiable.

“Saxena perused the file concerning the proposal to move the SLP which stated that the High Court has not taken into consideration the merits of the case and instead dismissed the appeal of the state only on the ground of inordinate delay in filing the appeal,” officials said.

The 12 accused persons in the case are Maikale Ram, Ramesh Chandra Sharma, Bishan Datt Sharma, Des Raj Goel, Anar Singh, Jagdish Prasad Sharma, Mahavir Singh, Balkishan, Dharampal, Om Pal Chauhan, Gyan Prakash and Ved Prakash.

The victims were Avtar Singh, Jagir Singh, Darshan Singh, Kulwant Singh, Baldev Singh, Sharvan Singh, Balwinder Singh and Harcharan Singh; Dharmendra Singh was injured in the incident. The case was registered on November 1, 1984, at Amar Colony in Nangloi.

Officials said it was pointed out that the Supreme Court, vide an order dated 11.1.2018, directed the constitution of an SIT for further investigation with respect to 186 cases related to the anti-Sikh riots and the instant case was a part of these.

In compliance with this, a Special Investigation Team comprising Justice (Retd.) SN Dhingra and IPS officer Abhishek had been constituted.

On April 15, 2019, the SIT submitted its report to the effect that this particular case was fit for the prosecution to have gone in appeal immediately after the judgment; it had also, according to officials, recommended that an appeal with an application of condonation of delay may be filed.
According to L-G House officials, after Raj Niwas’s approval on June 30, 2021, with regard to filing an appeal in the case, the Directorate of Prosecution sent the file to the office of the Standing Counsel on July 18, 2021, but the Criminal Leave Petition was filed in 2023.

L-G House officials said the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP), in the acquittal report on August 24 this year, opined that the case was fit to file an appeal or SLP before the Supreme Court.
Even the Standing Counsel, L-G House officials said, in a letter on September 14 this year, gave the opinion that the case was fit to file an SLP (Criminal) before the Supreme Court as there was a delay of only 274 days and not of 27 years as observed by the High Court.
“The delay, according to this opinion, ought to be calculated from the date of report submitted by SIT rather than being calculated from the trial court judgment dated April 29, 1995,” officials said.