Delhi HC extends time for probe into Congress leader Kamal Nath's role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has extended time for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to submit its report on Indian National Congress (INC) leader Kamal Naths role in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

The Court had directed the SIT to furnish the status report on the plea on January 27, 2022. However, despite 2 years having passed since then, the Court was informed that the SIT established by the Union Home Ministry was yet to file its status report due to want of relevant records.

The Court thus granted extension to the SIT, and scheduled the case for further hearing on April 23.

A single-judge bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was hearing the matter filed by the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

The SIT, formed on February 12, 2015, on the recommendation of the Home Ministry-appointed Justice (retd) G P Mathur committee, comprises two inspector general-rank IPS officers and a judicial officer.

Brief facts

The case pertains to a violent mob attack on the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in the Parliament Street PS limits during the 1984 riots.

Nath, who denies any involvement in the case, faces allegations of sheltering the 5 accused persons in the attack case named in the FIR (subsequently discharged due to insufficient evidence).

Sirsa's plea seeks direction for the SIT to take action against Nath in connection with the FIR lodged.

The case is one of seven matters reopened by the SIT in September 2019 where either the accused were acquitted or the trial was concluded, following a Home Ministry notification in this regard.

It was reportedly following this notification that Sirsa asserted that Nath, a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, allegedly harbored five individuals accused in one of the seven cases, and subsequently moved Court seeking action against Nath by the SIT.

As per the notification, the SIT is tasked with scrutinizing or conducting preliminary inquiries into the discharged cases.

These seven cases were registered in 1984 at police stations in Vasant Vihar, Sun Light Colony, Kalyanpuri, Parliament Street, Connaught Place, Patel Nagar, and Shahdara.

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots had erupted following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984, after Operation Blue Star.

Cause Title: Manjinder Singh Sirsa v. Union of India & Ors.