Prosecution seeks gallows for convicts in anti-Sikh riots

The prosecution on Wednesday sought death penalty for three convicts, who were held guilty by a Delhi Court for lynching three members of a family in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Chief Public Prosecutor Y P S Ahaluwalia, advancing arguments before Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri on quantum of punishment, said the offence committed by them fell under the "rarest of rare" category, warranting death penalty.

"This is a triple murder which was committed with a proper planning and in a gruesome manner," he said, seeking deterrent punishment for them.

The court had on March 26 held three accused -- Harparsad Bhardwaj, R P Tiwari and Jagdish Giri -- guilty of killing three members of a Sikh family including a Delhi Police Head Constable in the riots which broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The court, during the arguments, asked the prosecution to inform it about earlier anti-Sikh riots cases in which death penalty was awarded.

Ahluwalia then sought some time to file the relevant citations in the court.

As the counsel for the convicts were also not present in the courtroom, the ASJ adjourned the matter for Thursday.

All the three accused were convicted under various sections of IPC, including 147 (rioting) and 302 (murder).

The ASJ, however, had acquitted a woman accused Kamlesh and Suraj Giri of the charges due to lack of evidence.

The accused had led a mob on November one and two, 1984 and attacked the house of complainant Harminder Kaur in an East Delhi locality during the anti-Sikh riots in the wake of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination.

According to the prosecution, Kaur's husband Niranjan Singh, a Head Constable with the Delhi Police, who was on duty at Shahdara Railway Station on November one, 1984, was lynched and set ablaze by a mob led by the accused.

The accused had earlier chased him down before killing him in front of his house at Mansarovar Park in New Delhi.

His 17-year-old son Gurpal Singh and son-in-law Mahender Singh were killed the next day by the accused.

The FIR, in the case, was lodged in 1996 when Kaur, who survived the riot, filed an affidavit with the Jain and Banerjee Committee constituted to look into the anti-Sikh riot cases.

Former Union Minster H K L Bhagat, who is no more, was also named as one of the accused in the case but was later discharged as the evidence against him was found to be insufficient.