Under pressure not to pursue ’84 riots case: Prosecutor

Destruction of files - Seeks to withdraw himself from case, court seeks response from govt, Delhi Police.

People of the Sikh community had held a protest against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on the 1984 riots outside his residence on Monday. (Express)

Two days after a sessions court issued directions to police regarding alleged destruction of records in one of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases, the special public prosecutor sought to withdraw himself from the case on Monday, saying he was under pressure to not pursue the issue.

A sessions court on Monday disallowed his plea and sought response from the Delhi government and the police on the matter.
On January 21, the prosecutor, B S Joon, had moved an application alleging that apart from those accused in the case, four police officers — the then SHO of Nangloi police station Inspector Rampal Singh, SI Dalel Singh, ACP Amarander Kumar Singh and the then SHO R S Dahiya — were responsible for destroying relevant records to “deliberately save the accused persons”.

On February 1, Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau issued directions to DCP (West) and DCP (Law) to respond to the allegations and produce any standing orders during 1991-1992 regarding destruction of evidence.

Joon on Monday claimed that after this order was passed, he had come under heavy pressure to either withdraw his application or not press the issue. He said the Delhi Police on January 30 had withdrawn the security provided to him without any intimation.
He claimed that police protection had been provided to him due to threats in the Nitish Katara murder case and three cases relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots. According to Joon, removing the police protection was “arbitrary” and exposed him to threats, due to which he was unable to perform his duties as a prosecutor independently.

Judge Lau on Monday, however, disallowed his application taking into consideration that he had been appointed as a prosecutor in the case by the Delhi High Court in response to a request by Delhi government.

“It is not possible for this court to discharge B S Joon as special public prosecutor without seeking a response regarding the stand of the Delhi government in this regard, since any such order would be in violation of the undertaking/statement made by the standing counsel for the Delhi government,” Judge Lau said.

The court has asked the government and Delhi Police chief to submit their replies by February 7.

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