1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Grounds to presume accused instigated unlawful assembly, says special court

New Delhi [India], August 31 (ANI): The Rouse Avenue court on Friday directed to frame charges against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the Pul Bangash Sikh Killings case.

The court said that there is sufficient grounds to presume that he abetted the killing of three Sikhs by instigating the mob that attacked Gurudwara Pul Bangash, and some of them set it on fire.

Special CBI Judge Rakesh Syal said, “There appears to be sufficient grounds to presume that the accused has committed offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 188 and 153 A IPC, Sections 295, 436, 451, 380 read with Section 149 IPC, and Section 302 r/w Section 109 IPC.”

The court also said that it is considered that there is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused under Section 148 IPC.

“Let the charges be framed accordingly against the accused,” Special Judge Rakesh Syal ordered on August 30.

The court said that the accused has, by instigating the members of the unlawful assembly to kill Sikhs, abetted the murder of the three persons.

On the basis of statements of witnesses, the court stated that, “The accused, Jagdish Tytler, along with other unknown persons, was a member of an unlawful assembly, he instigated members of the assembly to attack Gurudwara Pul Bangash and some members of the assembly, destroyed/damaged/defiled Gurudwara Pul Bangash, a place of worship with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of Sikhs.”

Further, some members of the unlawful assembly, of which the accused was a member, committed mischief by setting Gurudwara Pul Bangash on fire intending to cause destruction.

The court further said that the material on record reveals that when the members of unlawful assembly were attacking Gurudwara Pul Bangash and looting the properties of the Sikhs, the accused instigated them to kill Sikhs by saying, “maro maro” and “Pahle maro phir luto”.

Thereupon, some members of the aforesaid unlawful assembly had committed the murders of Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh, by stabbing/burning them, the court said.

It is alleged that Harpal Kaur, after going back to her house, saw their bodies being thrown.

As per the prosecution case and the Site Plan, the accused was present near Gurudwara Pul Bangash and has left from there, whereas the dead bodies of the deceased persons were thrown from the house near the house of Harpal Kaur, which is situated on a road perpendicular to the road, where Gurudwara Pul Bangash and shop of Amarjeet Singh Bedi are located.

The court further said, “From the statement of witnesses examined by the CBI, it also appears that on 01.11.1984, at around 09:00 A.M., thousands of people had gathered in front of Gurudwara Pul Bangash and they were shouting, “kill Sikhs because they have killed our Prime Minister”. They were looting the shop of Amarjeet Singh Bedi, creating a ruckus in front of the Gurudwara and throwing fire bottles in the Gurudwara.”

The court noted citing the material on record, “It appears that on 01.11.1984, a mob of thousands of persons, armed with “lathis”, iron rods, sharp-edged weapons, hammers, sticks, petrol etc. had gathered at Gurudwara Pul Bangash, Azad Market with the common object to destroy/damage Gurudwara Pul Bangash, kill Sikh persons and loot their properties.”

“Thus, they constituted an unlawful assembly. They had set Gurudwara Pul Bangash on fire, killed Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh, criminally trespassed into the shops and house of Sikhs and also looted properties of Sikhs, including shop of Amarjit Singh Bedi,” the cover noted.

It has also come on record that the accused, who was a well-known person, led the mob

and instigated/incited the mob to kill Sikhs and loot their properties.

In view of the legal position, even if other accused persons are unknown or can not be traced, the accused can still be charged, along with such unknown persons under sections 149 IPC, the court held.

It can be seen that there is nothing on record to show that during the incident in question, the accused (Jagdish Tytler) was armed with a deadly weapon or with anything used as a weapon of offence was likely to cause death, the court said.

The court said that from the material brought on record, it appears that on 01.11.1984, at or about 11:00 A.M., Near Gurudwara Pul Bangash, falling within the jurisdiction of PS Bara Hindu Rao, accused Jagdish Tytler, along with other unknown persons, has intentionally joined and was a member of an assembly of thousands of persons and the common object of the said assembly was to cause destruction/damage to Gurudwara Pul Bangash, kill Sikh persons and loot their properties.

The court also noted that it has also come on record that some members of the unlawful assembly, of which the accused was a member, committed house trespass in the shop of Amarjeet Singh Bedi, situated in front of Gurudwara Pul Bangash and committed theft of TV sets, VCRs, telephones etc. in the said shop.

As per FIR No. 316/84 dated 01.11.1984, PS Bara Hindu Rao, Delhi on 01.11.1984, Sub Inspector (SI) Ranveer Singh was on patrol duty along with Police constables Chandra Kishore and Nawab Singh at Azad Market, near Pul Mithai, when information was received by them that some people had gathered in front of Gurudwara, Azad Market and were setting it on fire.

SI Ranveer Singh, along with the police officials, reached Gurudwara, Azad Market, where ASI Swaran Singh and Police Constable Raghunath Singh were present.

He found that a mob of thousands of people were shouting slogans that Gurudwara, Azad Market would be completely burnt and that no Sikh person will be allowed to escape alive from there. The fire was raging inside and outside the Gurudwara. Some rioters were throwing tyres into the fire due to which the fire was getting worse.

SI Ranveer Singh, along with other police officials, tried to pacify the mob by stating that Section 144 of Cr.P.C. was in force and, thus, people could not gather there. Some people left the spot while others continued to stay and got into heated exchanges with the police officials. ASI Swaran Singh arrested 31 persons under section 107/151 Cr.P.C. for disturbing law order.

Later, when the crime scene was inspected, two human bodies, which had been burnt using tyres, were found. It was also noticed that amongst other shops, one shop named Bedi Electricals was looted by the mob.

Accordingly, FIR No. 316/84, under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 457, 380, 436, 188 and 295 IPC, was registered at PS Bara Hindu Rao, Delhi.

During the investigation, it was revealed that three persons, namely, Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh, were killed by the accused persons on 01.11.1984 by burning them.

However, only two burnt-dead bodies could be recovered from the crime scene. The third dead body was completely burnt and no remains of the same could be recovered.