NEW DELHI: A Delhi court, while ordering the framing of charges against Congress functionary Jagdish Tytler in a case pertaining to the killing of three Sikh men in Pul Bangash during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, said the material brought on record showed prima facie that the accused was a member of an unlawful assembly of persons at the gurdwara in that locality.
“He instigated and incited the mob to destroy/damage Gurdwara Pul Bangash, kill the Sikhs and loot their properties,” said the court of special judge Rakesh Syal. The order was passed on Friday while a copy of the 57-page order was made available on Saturday.
Three Sikhs – Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh – were burnt to death on Nov 1, 1984 in the mob violence that followed the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi. The court said it appeared that Tytler incited the crowd with the words, “Maro, maro” and “Pahle maro, phir luto (Kill first, rob afterwards)”, telling them the rioters could do anything to the gurdwara because the Sikhs had killed their “mother”, or Indira Gandhi.
The court noted that Tytler instigated the rioters to use criminal force or violence against Sikhs. “Some members of the aforesaid unlawful assembly, of which the accused was a member, committed mischief by setting Gurdwara Pul Bangash on fire intending to cause or knowing it to be likely that they will thereby cause the destruction of the said building,” the court observed.
The court rejected the contentions of Tytler’s counsel that three key witnesses – Harpal Kaur, Harvinderjit Singh and Abdul Wahid – testified decades later to implicate the Congress leader. “As argued on behalf of the victim, discarding the statements of such witnesses, only on the ground of delay, will amount to compounding the injustice already done to them. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, it is considered that the delay in naming the accused as the person who instigated and incited the violent riots against Sikhs cannot be a ground to discharge the accused,” the court said.
Accepting the contention of the public prosecutor that due to fear, the eyewitnesses had not been able to depose truthfully before the various agencies, committees or commissions probing the riots, the court said it appeared that the first priority of the family members of the victims, witnesses to the incidents of killing and lootings, was their own and their family’s safety.
The court also rejected the contention of the defence counsel that closure reports had been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation absolving Tytler of any involvement in the events at Pul Bangash. The court held that the mere fact that closure reports were filed in respect of the accused did not, per se, entitle him to be discharged of the accusations.
The complainant in the case, Lakhwinder Kaur, wife of deceased Badal Singh, was represented by senior advocate HS Phoolka and advocate Gurbaksh Singh, while CBI was represented by public prosecutor Amit Jindal.
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