The Delhi High Court Today (Oct 1) said it would hear on November 29 a plea by Congress leader Jagdish Tytler challenging the framing of charges of murder and other offences against him in a case related to the killing of three people in north Delhi’s Pul Bangash area during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, after briefly hearing the matter, asked Tytler’s counsel to file statements of certain witnesses which were not on record.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court announced on Tuesday that it would hear Congress leader Jagdish Tytler’s plea challenging the framing of murder charges and other offenses against him on November 29. The charges relate to the killing of three individuals in the Pul Bangash area of north Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, after a brief hearing, requested that Tytler’s counsel file certain witness statements that were missing from the record.
The court has scheduled the matter for further discussion on November 29.
Tytler’s petition claims that he is the victim of a “witch-hunt“ and argues that the trial court’s decision to frame charges against him was “perverse, illegal, and lacked application of mind.” His legal team has contended that the trial court overlooked well-established legal principles when issuing its order.
“By way of the impugned order, the trial court has erroneously framed charges against the petitioner overlooking the settled principles of law on the point of charge,”
-the petition stated.
During the hearing, Tytler’s counsel raised a plea of alibi, asserting that Tytler was not present at the scene of the crime during the incident. However, this plea was opposed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the victims’ representatives, who pointed out that the alibi had already been considered and rejected by the high court in earlier proceedings.
In his petition, Tytler claimed that the accusations against him were not backed by credible evidence, describing the trial court’s decision as “misconceived“, alleging that it was passed “mechanically“ and should be set aside. He further argued that the case was a “classic case of witch-hunt and harassment“ and that he was being wrongfully put on trial for an offense that allegedly occurred over four decades ago.
At 80 years old, Tytler informed the court that he suffers from multiple health issues, including heart disease and diabetes. He has sought the quashing of the trial court’s August 30 order, which directed the framing of charges against him in connection with the case.
On September 13, the trial court formally framed the charges, despite Tytler pleading not guilty. Besides murder, charges were framed for offenses including unlawful assembly, rioting, promoting enmity between different groups, house trespass, and theft.
The trial court had, on August 30, ruled that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against Tytler, following a charge sheet filed by the CBI on May 20, 2023.
The CBI alleged that Tytler
“incited, instigated, and provoked the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurdwara Azad Market”
on November 1, 1984, which led to the gurdwara being burned and the deaths of three Sikhs—Thakur Singh, Badal Singh, and Gurcharan Singh. The agency’s charge sheet also mentioned a witness who alleged that Tytler arrived at the scene in a white Ambassador car and shouted,
“Kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother,”
-leading to the mob violence that claimed the lives of the three Sikhs.
The anti-Sikh riots were sparked across the country following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
Tytler had previously been granted anticipatory bail by a Sessions Court in August last year. The charges against him include sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) related to rioting (sections 147 and 148), unlawful assembly (section 149), provocation (section 153A), abetment (section 109), murder (section 302), and defiling religious places (section 295), among others.
This case is one of the most prominent and long-standing legal battles related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, with numerous families still seeking justice for the tragic events that unfolded in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The upcoming hearing on November 29 will be crucial in determining the next steps in the legal proceedings against Tytler.
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Jagdish Tytler
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