NEW DELHI, India—The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court of India against its decision of acquitting 15 genocide culprits. DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa disclosed this on being approached by the media on April 30 after the Supreme Court bench acquitted 15 genocide culprits by quashing the Delhi High Court’s verdict.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa has said that the Supreme Court’s verdict is a big setback for the Sikhs. “We are waiting for the copy of this verdict and will file a review petition after consulting some legal experts,” he added.
He said that the DSGMC is committed to take all the genocide related cases to their legal and rational end and ensure punishment to the culprits.
Case Background:
This case pertains to Trilokpuri area of India’s national capital Delhi, which was one of the worst affected areas of Delhi during the 1984 Sikh genocide that was committed by the Hindu mobs after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31 in 1984.
As per India’s official government records, the Police had recovered 95 dead bodies from Trilokpuri. More than 100 houses of Sikhs were also burnt.
Although, all the genocide culprits were sentenced to five years by the trial court for “rioting”, burning houses and violation of curfew on August 27, 1996 but charges of murder could not be brought against any of them.
In November last year, the Delhi High Court had upheld the conviction of 70 out of the 89 people who were sentenced to five years of jail by the trial court for “rioting”, burning houses and violation of curfew during the 1984 Sikh genocide.
“The fact that these cases have continued to linger on in courts at the stage of trial or appeals is itself an indicator of the reality that the response of the law has been tardy, ineffective and highly unsatisfactory,” Justice RK Gauba had remarked in his 79-page verdict.
