New Delhi, April 28: In A reprieve to senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, a Delhi court on Tuesday accepted the closure report by the CBI in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case against him. It said the evidence available was insufficient to put him on trial.
“There is nothing which suggests that accused Tytler was seen on November 8, 1984, near Gurudwara Pulbangash or incited a mob for killing Sikh people,” additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) Rakesh Pandit said. The court also accepted CBI’s case closure report against him.
The CBI had given a clean chit to Tytler for the second time in a row on April 2 last year. It had claimed there was lack of sufficient evidence against him in the case pertaining to the murder of three persons on November 1, 1984, following the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.
In its 19-page order, the court, which heard arguments for several days on behalf of the CBI and Lakhwinder Kaur, whose husband was killed in the riots, termed the testimony of one witness as having no relevance and another as contradictory.
“ That the testimony of Jasbir Singh ( witness) has no relevance to the case before the court. The testimonies of witness Surinder Singh contains a number of self- contradictory averments and different stands, as argued by the CBI and accepted by this court, do not constitute sufficient material for sending the accused ( Tytler) to trial,” the court said.
It also pointed out that after the death of Surinder in June last year, there was no person left to depose regarding the circumstances in which he gave statements and filed affidavits.
ACMM Pandit rejected the plea of Kaur seeking summons to Tytler or direction to the CBI for further investigation in the case and said: “ This court does not see any requirement for directing further investigation in the present matter.” The alleged role of Tytler in the case relating to the killing of three persons, including Badal Singh in 1984, near Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi was re- investigated by the CBI after a court had in December 2007 refused to accept a closure report filed by the agency.
Expressing her disappointment with the order, Rebecca M. John, counsel for Badal’s widow Kaur, alleged that the CBI deliberately did not bring out the witnesses in support of the case.
“ This is not the final order. We are going to challenge it. Whether in sessions court or in the high court, we will decide later,” she said.
Outside the Karkardooma districts court, a number of Sikh protesters raised slogans against Tytler demanding punishment for him and burnt his effigy. Security was beefed up in and around the court complex in east Delhi by deploying central police forces.
In its order, the court rejected the allegation of the victim that the CBI had acted in a partisan manner by giving a clean chit to Tytler, a former MP.
UPS AND DOWNS IN THE 1984 ANTI- SIKH RIOTS CASE
What was the case against Tytler?
The Nanawati Commission, which was formed to probe the 1984 anti- Sikh riots, claimed to have found “ credible evidence” against Jagdish Tytler. It said Tytler “ very probably” had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs. The CBI had lodged a case against Tytler and questioned all the witnesses.
Who were the witnesses?
Jasbir Singh ( now residing in the US) and Surinder Singh, who is dead.
What did their statements say?
Jasbir, in an affidavit, had claimed before the commission that he had heard Tytler on November 3, 1984, rebuking his men for nominal killings carried out in the riots. Surinder had stated Tytler incited the mob that killed three persons. He, however, retracted from his statement and claimed that his affidavit was withdrawn under pressure. He again accused Tytler but then did a volte- face.
—Agencies