1984 riots: Delay in prosecution of Tytler, Kamal Nath 'unfortunate', says Badal

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday termed as "unfortunate" the delay in the prosecution of Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath in the 1984 riots cases and urged the Union Home Ministry to speed up the process of ensuring justice.

In a statement here, he expressed solidarity with victims of the riots and said his party will continue to stand with them and fight to ensure that the Congress leaders responsible for the killings are brought to the book.

Badal said even though witnesses had stepped forward to testify against Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath, they were successful in delaying their prosecution, which was unfortunate.

He said despite the formation of successive commissions and even an SIT, the process to make the perpetrators of the genocide accountable for their sins against humanity was proceeding at a slow pace.

“I urge the Home Ministry to intervene and speed up this process to ensure justice is served to the victims,” Badal added.

He also took on the Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi government, alleging that it was hand in glove with the Congress and always tried to “weaken” the prosecution proceedings against its leaders accused of being involved in the genocide.

He said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was trying to befool the Sikh community with claims of being sympathetic to the cause of the victim families.

“The truth is that Kejriwal is refusing to give government jobs to the next of kin of massacre victims despite the fact that a decision to this effect was taken by the Delhi cabinet earlier.

Kejriwal is refusing to implement this decision even though the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) took up this issue in the High Court which asked the Delhi government to look into the matter. Kejriwal has always adopted double standards on this issue and is known to speak one thing in Delhi and another in Punjab,” he said.