NEW DELHI—This past Tuesday, witnesses against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler requested that the Government provide them with security so that they could appear before the CBI to record their statements without fear of reprisal. July 30th was the first day of hearings against Sajjan Kumar who had filed a petition seeking dismissal of the case. His plea was however quashed by the Delhi High Court earlier this month. The High Court had passed orders to the CBI to re-investigate the case and record testimonies of the witnesses.
District Judge JR Aryan, has asked the CBI to provide security to the witnesses, however written orders are still pending. The court has set August 13th as the date to begin recording statements by the witnesses against Sajjan Kumar.
In a huge setback to the case of Sikh genocide victims, a key witness against murderer Sajjan Kumar died a day before the trial was set to resume this past Tuesday. The victim, Bhagwani Bai, aged 70, was a prime witness in the case against Kumar and four others accused in the case of Sikh genocide in 1984. Bai had witnessed Kumar and his associates killing six Sikhs in the Sultanpuri area of Delhi.
Amongst those killed were her two sons, Hoshiar Singh and Mohan Singh who were killed by a mob on November 1, 1984.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had been delaying the case hearing. It is important to note that such an important case has been put on hold since September 2010. Unfortunately, the CBI has continued to support the killers of the Sikhs and it has continuously ignored appeals by eye witnesses against Congress leaders.
