Allahabad High Court denies relief to nine accused of 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Kanpur

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has rejected several petitions filed by nine accused people seeking quashing of criminal proceedings initiated against them for their alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Kanpur.

Describing the mass violence following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi as a "genocide" and a "crime against humanity", the court held that delay in recording witness statements and the non-availability of original police records cannot be grounds to quash the proceedings.

Justice Anish Kumar Gupta, in the judgment passed on Tuesday, dismissed a bunch of petitions filed by the accused seeking quashing of criminal proceedings pending against them before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kanpur Nagar.

The common feature in all cases was that FIRs were lodged immediately after the incidents. However, in all cases, final reports were submitted exonerating all the accused.

Later, the central government appointed the Justice Nanavati Commission to enquire into the anti-Sikh riots cases. Afterwards, the Supreme Court appointed an SIT to investigate the matters.

Pursuant to the aforesaid directions, the investigations carried out, witnesses were examined and thereupon the chargesheets were filed against the applicants and the court concerned took cognisance in all the cases.

Challenging the criminal proceedings, the applicants argued before the bench that since the original records (FIRs, final reports, post-mortem reports, etc) of the case were not available, there could not be any effective trial.

It was further contended that witness statements recorded by the SIT cast serious doubt on their identities and violated their right to a fair procedure under Article 21 of the Constitution.

On the other hand, counsel for the state government opposed the petitions, arguing that the Supreme Court had taken judicial notice of these crimes against humanity and deliberately constituted the SIT to reinvestigate the cases despite knowing that the original records were missing.

State government counsel also relied on the Supreme Court's ruling in Sajjan Kumar vs CBI wherein the trial court was directed to proceed with the trial and it was held that the entire proceedings of the cases cannot be closed merely on the ground of delay.

The high court observed that the final reports in these matters were filed in a hurried manner to save the culprits and it was an admitted fact that the original records had already either been weeded out or had been destroyed by the termites.

"The incident in the instant case is part of a larger chain of incidents which have taken place against the Sikh community throughout the country after the assassination of late prime minister Smt Indira Gandhi," the bench noted, according to the order.

"The nature of the incidents was like a genocide against a particular community in which various innocent persons were killed, ablazed alive, house and properties were burnt, destroyed and looted and such a large scale crime, committed against humanity gone unnoticed and in almost all such cases the final reports were submitted in a hurried manner to save various accused persons, who were involved in the incident," the bench remarked.