Badal seeks day-to-day trial of 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases

CHANDIGARH - Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Saturday sought day-to-day hearing of the over 25-year-old 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases.

Badal, who is also the president of Punjab’s ruling Akali Dal, sought the intervention of the Supreme Court to order day-to-day trial of the anti-Sikh carnage to expedite the justice delivery system.

Badal said that Akali Dal would also request the Supreme Court to monitor the trial of 1984 riot cases on a day-to-day basis, as is being done in 2002 Gujarat riot cases, to ensure justice to the families of 7,000 innocent Sikh victims.

Hundreds of Sikhs were killed in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other places across India in November 1984, just days after then prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her two Sikh bodyguards at her residence in New Delhi.

Talking to reporters after the 104th annual convocation of Khalsa College at Amritsar, 250 km from here, Badal said that people had lost faith in impartiality of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

He added that the Akali Dal would request the Supreme Court to constitute a special investigation team of police officers with impeccable record to investigate the 25-year-old cases.