Opinion 40 years ago January 16, 1986: Indira assassination trial

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on January 16, 1986.

2 min readJan 16, 2026 07:06 AM IST First published on: Jan 16, 2026 at 06:27 AM IST

The eight-month long Indira Gandhi assassination trial came to an end with the special judge, Mahesh Chandra, reserving his judgment for January 22. Earlier, the defence counsel, P N Lekhi, concluded his final arguments in the case in which the surviving alleged assassin, Satwant Singh, and accused Balbir and Kebar Singh are facing charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. If found guilty, the three accused will be sentenced to death or to life imprisonment.

Soviet nuclear moratorium

Soviet Communist Party general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev announced an extension of the unilateral Soviet moratorium on nuclear explosions by three months and invited the United States to join it by then, so it could be extended further. Gorbachev also offered to open all space research laboratories for inspection in order to keep space peaceful, and proposed an early elimination of mass annihilation chemical weapons together with their industrial base.

Reagan on arms control

President Ronald Reagan appealed to the Kremlin for progress in nuclear arms control talks, building on the fresh start he said that he and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had made at their summit last November. Reagan made his plea in a statement dealing with the opening of the fourth round of arms negotiations in Geneva.

Haryana CM asks for CRPF

The Haryana Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal, urged the Centre to deploy the Central Reserve Police Force in Kandu Khera village to ensure fair census operations, alleging that the Punjab Police were terrorising the Hindi-speaking population. Talking to newsmen, Bhajan Lal alleged that the Punjab Police had abducted three or four persons and houses were being searched. He expressed the apprehension that some more persons might be whisked away and that senior civil and police officers from Punjab were camping in the village.