NEW DELHI, Aug 12: The Delhi High Court today directed that the show cause notice issued to senior Congress leader H K L Bhagat in the 1984-riot case should be served on him in person or should be affixed at the entrance to his premises.The direction came during the hearing of an appeal filed by the State Government challenging the trial court order rejecting the prosecution's plea to summon and examine two fresh `eye-witnesses' to the `killing' of Satnami Bai's husband during the 1984 riots, allegedly at the instance of Bhagat. The case against Bhagat has been pending for two-and-a-half years.As Bhagat was unrepresented before the court today even though he was issued notices on July 20, Justice J B Goel issued fresh notices and directed that the station house officer of the area where the leader was residing, should personally serve it on him.The next hearing has been scheduled for August 31.The court was told that Bhagat was not well and was admitted to some hospital, name and identity of whichwas not known.Special riots judge O P Dwivedi had on June 11 while rejecting the prosecution's ten-month-old plea for summoning of the two `eye-witnesses' - Babu Singh and Balwant Singh - fixed July 20 as the date for recording Bhagat's statement in the case.The recording of the Congress leader, alleged to have been in the fore front of the riots, would have led to the conclusion of the case. However, on the same date the government moved the Delhi High Court and got a stay on the trial court order.The prosecution had asked the trial court to summon the two eye-witnesses.The trial court had refused to allow the eye-witnesses, who were 10 and 14 years of age when the incident took place, on the grounds that Satnami Bai had never mentioned their names in her statement before the trial court.However, the Delhi government challenged the decision of the trial court. The special judge had given wrong reasoning that as prosecution witness Satnami had not taken the names of these witnesses. No groundexisted to believe that they were not present at the site when the incident took place.The government said that the witnesses should have been given a chance to record their statement and its factuality could have been proved during cross examination.The government also challenged the trial court stand that it was too late to record the statement of any more witnesses.Dwivedi had said in his order that there were no grounds to examine the two witnesses at such a late stage. ``In all her depositions made before the police, commissions or court, Satnami Bai never named any other eye-witness.''``The material already on record does not indicate that Balwant or Babu Singh were eye-witnesses. They never filed any application or affidavit before any commission or committee stating that they were witnesses,'' the judge said.The twin trials against Bhagat began in January 1996, 11 years after the riots, which took place after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31,1984. Satnami Bai and Darshan Kaur had then named him for the first time in court.But while Darshan Kaur identified Bhagat in court at the first instance, Satnami Bai first failed to identify Bhagat. Then, in July 1997, after being recalled to the witness box, she identified the former minister and alleged that he had threatened that her family would be ``finished'' if she testified against him.
