SC raps Delhi Police: ‘Stop filing half-hearted appeals’ against acquittals in 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases

On Monday, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Delhi Police, said that prosecuting agencies have been told to file Special Leave Petitions in the SC. Accordingly, two SLPs have already been filed and six more are in the pipeline, she submitted.

Justice Oka then said, “filing SLP won’t serve any purpose unless filed seriously and prosecuted seriously.” He asked, “You tell us, in matters which were filed earlier, were any senior lawyers engaged to argue the matter?” The judge added, “it has to be done seriously, not for the sake of it.”

Senior Advocate H S Phoolka appearing for the petitioner said the appeals were filed “just as a formality.”

The senior counsel said that there was a Delhi High Court judgement which said there was cover up and that the state did not prosecute properly.

The court asked him to produce the judgement for its perusal.

Justice Oka said that the appeals must be pursued earnestly and seriously. “We are not on any particular outcome, but it must be pursued earnestly and with seriousness,” he said.

Posting it for further hearing on February 17, the court said that it will hear the matter in detail instead of in a “piecemeal” manner.

ASG Bhati assured the court that appeals will be pursued with all seriousness.

The SIT in its report severely castigated the police and administration over their response to the riots saying their “whole role…seem to have been to hush up the criminal cases concerning the riots”.

The Committee said that “despite a large number of victims approaching various agencies soon after the riots and for a few years thereafter, still a large number of crimes of murders, rioting, looting, arson remained unfurnished and untraced. The basic reason for these crimes remaining unpunished and culprits getting scot-free was lack of interest shown by the police and by the authorities in handling these cases as per law or to proceed with the intention of punishing the culprits”.

The committee, which also comprised Himachal Pradesh cadre IPS officer Abhishek Dular, said in its report that a perusal of the files shows the FIRs were not registered by the police incident-wise or crime-wise.