HC notices to CBI,5 convicted in ’84 riots case

Complainants Jagdish Kaur and Nirpreet Kaur filed 2 pleas against quantum of sentences

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to the CBI and five persons,convicted of various offences,in a case related to the deaths of five Sikh men during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The notice was issued by the court of Justices G S Sistani and G P Mittal in two petitions filed by Jagdish Kaur and Nirpreet Kaur,who had lost family members during the riots in Raj Nagar,near Delhi Cantonment,in November 1984. They had petitioned against the quantum of sentences awarded to the five men.

Former MCD councillor Balwant Khokhar,retired Navy Captain Bhagmal,Girdharilal,Mahender Yadav and Balwants brother Krishan Khokhar were convicted by a sessions court on April 30. District and Sessions Judge J R Aryan had convicted Balwant,Bhagmal and Girdharilal of murder,and had awarded them life sentences. While Yadav and Krishan were acquitted of murder,they were convicted of rioting and given three years imprisonment.

In her pleas,Kaur has requested that death penalty be awarded to those convicted of murder and has appealed against the acquittal of Yadav and Krishan.

The court ought to have appreciated the fact that the respondents are menace to society and sentence of life imprisonment was altogether inadequate, the plea for death penalty stated.

The plea also calls the acquittal of Yadav and Krishan a grave miscarriage of justice,arguing that the presence of respondents has been proved in the area of Raj Nagar in which 341 deaths/murders took place,and stamped by the trial court.

Jagdish Kaur,who lost her husband,a son and three cousins,and Nirpreet Kaur,whose father was killed during the riots,had approached the High Court with three separate petitions the third one was against Sajjan Kumars acquittal.

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The duo have also demanded compensation for the victims under Section 357 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,arguing that under Section 357 CrPC with its amendment in the year 2008 the section especially came to the rescue of victims of criminal cases… The court ought to have awarded compensation to the victims of such a heinous crime against them but by not doing so there has been a grave injustice and total failure to give justice to the victims.

The High Court has called for the trial court records of the case to look into the appeals,and has asked the accused and the CBI to reply to the pleas by August 27.

The appeal against former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar has not yet come up for hearing before the court and is expected to be listed sometime later this week.

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