1984 riots: three held guilty of rioting

A city court on Saturday held three persons guilty under the charge of rioting,attempt to murder and arson in connection with an anti-Sikh riot case. The victim Sikh family were forced to migrate to Punjab within days of the incident. The court also made stinging remarks against the state machinery and the police,observing their role in the riots marred the global image of the country.

“Though we boast of being the world’s largest democracy and the Delhi being its national capital,the sheer mention of the incidents of 1984 anti-Sikh riots in general and the role played by Delhi Police and state machinery in particular makes our heads hang in shame in the eyes of the world polity,” said Additional Sessions Judge Surinder S Rathi.

Following a trial spanning over seven years,the court convicted Mangal Sen alias Billa,Brij Mohan Verma and Bhagat Singh. The anti-riots cell of the Delhi police had probed the incident in which one Joginder Singh and his two sons Jagmohan Singh and Gurvinder Singh were seriously injured while their house was burnt down by a mob led by the convicts on November 1,1984.

The court is likely to pronounce the quantum of sentence against the three convicts on August 29.