Today, On 30th September, In the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, Jagdish Tytler approached the Delhi High Court to challenge the charges against him. Tytler, a former Congress leader, is accused of involvement in the riots that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He is contesting the legal grounds of the charges.
New Delhi: Congress leader Jagdish Tytler approached the Delhi High Court on Monday, contesting the framing of murder and other charges against him in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, specifically regarding the killing of three individuals in the Pul Bangash area of north Delhi.
Tytler claimed he was a victim of a “witch-hunt.”
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In his petition, Tytler argued that the trial court’s decision to frame charges against him was “perverse, illegal and lacked application of mind.”
He stated,
“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, likely to be heard later in the week, asserts that there is no credible evidence to support the allegations against him and that the trial court’s order was “misconceived,” “mechanical,” and should be set aside. Tytler further contended that his case represents a “classic case of witch-hunt and harassment” in which he is being forced to face trial for an alleged crime committed over 40 years ago.
Jagdish Tytler, now 80 years old and suffering from various health issues, including heart disease and diabetes, has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the trial court’s August 30 order, which directed the framing of charges against him in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. On September 13, the trial court formally framed charges after Tytler pleaded not guilty to the offences.
In addition to murder, the trial court ordered the framing of charges for other offences, including unlawful assembly, rioting, promoting enmity between groups, house trespass, and theft.
The court previously stated on August 30 that there was “sufficient ground to proceed against the accused.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet on May 20, 2023, alleging that Tytler had “incited, instigated and provoked the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurudwara Azad Market” on November 1, 1984. According to the CBI’s charge sheet, his actions led to the burning of the gurudwara and the killing of three Sikhs Thakur Singh, Badal Singh, and Gurcharan Singh.
The agency invoked several IPC sections, including 147, 148, 149, 153A, and 109 read with 302 and 295.
The CBI, citing a witness, stated that on November 1, 1984,
“Tytler arrived in front of Gurdwara Pul Bangash in a white Ambassador car and allegedly instigated a mob by shouting, Kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother. The mob then killed three Sikhs.”
The anti-Sikh riots erupted following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. In August of the previous year, a Sessions Court granted Tytler anticipatory bail in the case.