MHA to Reopen Anti-Sikh Riots Case Against Kamal Nath, Says Sirsa
Sirsa reportedly said that a Special Investigation Team is investigating the allegations against Kamal Nath.
advertisement
The Union Home Ministry has cleared a proposal to reopen the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Delhi’s Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Monday, 9 September.
“A big victory for Akali Dal. SIT Opens case against Nath for his alleged involvement in 1984 Sikh genocide. Notification issued by MHA upon my submission last year, Case number 601/84 to reopen and consider fresh Evidence against Kamal Nath,” Sirsa said in a tweet.
Sirsa, who is the President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) is investigating the allegations against Kamal Nath.
He thanked the SIT for reopening the case, and requested the “people who were an eyewitness to Kamal Nath killing Sikhs to come forward and become a witness”.
“There is no need to be scared,” CNNnews18 quoted Sirsa as saying.
"Very soon he (Kamal Nath) will be arrested and face the same fate as Sajjan Kumar," the Akali leader reportedly said.
Sirsa, while briefing the media, also urged interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi to seek Kamal Nath's resignation so that Sikhs get justice for the 1984 riots, IANS reported.
The SIT was formed after Akali leaders, including Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had alleged that Kamal Nath had incited violence against Sikhs in 1984 following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
‘2 Witnesses Are Ready to Depose’
Sirsa said that the specific case was against Kamal Nath who was a "part and parcel" of the mob that killed two persons in Gurudwara Rakabganj Sahib during the 1984 riots, according to ANI.
Sirsa also said that the two prime witnesses in the case are Sanjay Suri and Mukhtiar Singh. While Singh was the lawyer of Gurudwara Rakabganj Sahib employee, Suri was a press reporter, he said, adding that they both are ready to depose.
The seven anti-Sikh riot cases were registered in 1984 at police stations in Vasant Vihar, Sun Light Colony, Kalyanpuri, Parliament Street, Connaught Place, Patel Nagar and Shahdara, according to PTI.
The SIT has so far re-opened around 80 out of the 650 cases registered in connection with anti-Sikh riots.
A total of 3,325 people were killed in the riots in which Delhi alone accounted for 2,733 deaths, while the rest occurred in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.
The Delhi Police had closed 241 cases citing lack of evidence. Justice Nanavati Commission had recommended reopening of only four of them but the Modi government constituted the SIT for re-investigation of all cases which the probe team finds appropriate.
The CBI had reopened and re-investigated only four cases. In two of them, the probe agency had filed a charge sheet and in one, five persons, including a former MLA, were convicted.
Last year, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life for his role in the anti-Sikh riots.
(With inputs from IANS, News18, ANI and PTI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)