Holding that there was sufficient evidence to put him on trial, a Delhi Rouse Avenue Court on Friday ordered framing of charges for murder and other offences against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a case related to alleged murder of three people in the North Delhi’s Pul Bangash area, almost 40 years after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Special CBI judge Rakesh Siyal said there was sufficient evidence against him to put him on trial. “Sufficient ground is there to proceed against the accused person,” the Special CBI judge said, posting the matter for September 13 for formally framing the charges when Tytler would be asked if he would like to plead guilty or face trial.
Tytler was discharged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC)’s Section 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons) as the special judge Rakesh Syal listed the matter for the next hearing on September 13.
Welcoming the development, BJP national spokesperson RP Singh wrote on X, “Albeit delayed, it appears justice is being done.”
The case relates to the burning to death of Badal Singh, Sardar Thakur Singh, and Gurbachan Singh and setting ablaze Pul Bangash Gurudwara a day after the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on November 1, 1984.
The Delhi Police registered a case the same day.
Tytler would have to be physically present in the court for the framing of charges under the IPC Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 188 (disobedience of the order duly promulgated by a public servant), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), 451 (house trespass), 380 (theft in dwelling house), 149 (common object), 302 (murder) and 109 (abetment).
A witness had earlier submitted in the charge-sheet that Tytler came out of a white Ambassador car in front of the Gurdwara Pul Bangash on November 1, 1984 and instigated a mob with the words, “kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother,” following which three people were killed.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case afresh in November 2005 on the recommendations of the Nanavati Commission, which was formed in 2000 and submitted its report five years later.
The trial court took cognisance of the charge-sheet filed in the case on July 26 last year and issued summons to Tytler directing him to appear before the court. Another senior Delhi Congress leader and former MP Sajjan Kumar is already serving life term for the “remainder of his natural life” after being convicted by the Delhi High Court on December 17, 2018. The case in which Kumar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment related to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part I area in Palam Colony of Southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part II. His appeal against conviction and sentence is pending in the Supreme Court which has refused to grant him bail on health grounds.
