Delhi HC rejects Tytler’s plea to stay trial in 1984 riots case

The Delhi high court on Monday refused to immediately stay trial court proceedings pending against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case involving the killing of three people.
The case pertains to the killing of Badal Singh, Sardar Thakur Singh, and Gurbachan Singh and the setting ablaze of Pul Bangash Gurudwara, a day after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on November 1, 1984. The Delhi Police had registered a case the same day.
A bench of justice Manoj Kumar Ohri fixed November 29 as the next date of hearing in Tytler’s application seeking a stay of the trial, during the pendency of his plea challenging a city court’s order framing charges against him and clarified that the trial would continue.
“Submissions heard. To be reheard on November 29. Needless to state the trial would continue. The same would be subject to the outcome of the proceedings,” the court said in the order.
In his application argued by senior advocate Arvind Nigam and advocate Vaibhav Tomar, the Congress leader contended that though the court was vacant after the retirement of the judge who had framed charges against him, a link judge had begun recording examination in chief of one of the witnesses — Lokender Kaur. He submitted that the matter was now fixed for Kaur’s cross-examination on November 12, Tuesday, and the stay was imperative as the matter raised substantial questions regarding the motivation of the prosecution and the investigation conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The victims represented by senior advocate HS Phoolka opposed the application saying that the witness was aged and suffering from various ailments and was being made to appear in trial court several times. She would be appearing in court for the fourth time on Tuesday, the advocate said.
The application was preferred in Tytler’s petition challenging the city court’s August 30 order framing charges against him. On August 30, the court ordered Tytler’s physical appearance for framing of charges under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including unlawful assembly, rioting, murder, and abetment. The court had, however, discharged him for the offence of armed rioting with deadly weapons.
Tytler’s plea challenging the August 30 order before the high court said that the city court’s order was perverse, illegal and lacked application of mind. Terming the framing of charges as erroneous, the Congress leader said that the grounds on which the same were framed were unfounded as there was no credible evidence to corroborate the allegations against him. He alleged that the case against him was a classic case of witch hunt and harassment where he was being made to face trial for an alleged offence which was committed more than four decades ago. In his petition, he said that he was never named in the first information report filed by the police in 1984, and no action was recommended against him in the charge sheet and the first two supplementary charge sheets filed by CBI in 2007, 2009 and 2014.
The 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 cognizance of the charge sheet filed in the case on July 26 last year and issued a summons to Tytler to appear before the court. Tytler moved an anticipatory bail application. The court accepted his personal as well as surety bonds converting the anticipatory bail to regular bail.
The charge sheet said that CBI established Tytler’s presence at the crime scene based on the testimonies of six witnesses of which four saw him instigating the crowd. It said that Tytler was allegedly disappointed that more Sikhs were not killed in his constituency. The charge sheet said that Tytler was allegedly influencing the investigation and threatening witnesses.