Delhi High Court Rejects State's Plea to Condone 28-Year Delay in Appealing Acquittal in 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Case
In a significant development, the Delhi High Court has recently dismissed the State's request to excuse a delay of 27 years and 335 days in filing an appeal against the acquittal of multiple individuals involved in a case connected to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The case, titled State v Hari Lal & Ors, involved charges under Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 436, and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for acts of rioting, looting, and killings targeting Sikh individuals following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in October and November of 1984.
The accused were acquitted by the Sessions Court on March 28, 1995, as the witnesses presented by the prosecution were deemed unreliable. Notably, the SN Dhingra committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, recommended in 2019 that an appeal should be filed in this case.
In its ruling on Monday, a division bench comprising Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna noted that there was no dispute regarding the acquittal of the accused due to the lack of credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. The Court emphasized that the State or the complainant could have filed the appeal within the stipulated time if they were dissatisfied with the judgment of acquittal.
The Court also highlighted that no further investigations were conducted by the Investigating Agencies, and no new evidence regarding the alleged offenses was presented. It observed that the grounds now being cited, based on the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), already existed during the trial and acquittal. The Court further pointed out that the delay in filing the appeal, approximately 28 years, remained unexplained, despite the SIT report being available since April 15, 2019.
Consequently, the bench held that the current grounds of appeal raised by the State were purely related to the merits of the case, which were already present during the trial and subsequent acquittal. The Court found the delay unjustified and lacking a cogent explanation. As a result, it dismissed the application seeking the condonation of the delay, as well as the leave petition.
Additional Public Prosecutor Tarang Srivastava represented the State in the proceedings.
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TAGS: Delhi High Court plea condone delay appealing acquittal 1984 anti-Sikh riots State Hari Lal & Ors FIR Indian Penal Code IPC Saraswati Vihar Police Station rioting looting killing Indira Gandhi assassination Sikh bodyguards accused acquitted Sessions Court SN Dhingra committee Supreme Court prosecution witnesses Special Investigation Team SIT grounds of appeal merits explanation dismissal application leave petition Additional Public Prosecutor Tarang Srivastava.
