1984 riots: Delhi HC gives SIT time to file reply to plea for action against Kamal Nath

The case is related to a mob of rioters storming the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi. Congress leader Nath had previously denied the charges.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday gave a Special Investigation Team time to file its status report on a plea seeking action against Congress' Kamal Nath for his alleged role in a case relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and listed the matter for April 23.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was informed that the SIT set up by the Union Home ministry has not yet filed its status report on the petition filed by BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

On January 27, 2022, the high court had asked the SIT to file the status report on the plea. On Tuesday, counsel for the SIT asked the court for more time to file the report as the records had to be traced.

The case is related to a mob of rioters storming the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in the city. Congress leader Nath had previously denied the charges.

Sirsa sought a direction to the SIT to take action against Nath in the FIR lodged in 1984 at the Parliament Street police station. Five persons were named as accused in the case and were allegedly accommodated at Nath's house.

Those accused were discharged due to lack of evidence. However, Nath was never named in the FIR.

The SIT, in September 2019, decided to reopen seven anti-Sikh riot cases, where the accused were either acquitted or the trial was closed.

After the notification became public, Sirsa claimed that Nath, also former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, allegedly gave shelter to five people who were accused in one of the seven cases.

According to the Home Ministry’s 2019 notification, the SIT has taken up the discharged cases for scrutiny or preliminary enquiry.

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

The SIT was set up on February 12, 2015, following a recommendation by the Home Ministry-appointed Justice (retd) G P Mathur committee. The three-member SIT comprises two inspector general-rank IPS officers and a judicial officer.

Riots had broken following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi who was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.