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Delhi HC upholds conviction of 88 people in 1984 anti-Sikh riots

According to the FIR lodged in connection with the Trilokpuri killings, 95 people died in the rioting and 100 houses were burnt.

Delhi HC upholds conviction of 88 people in 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riot protest at Subhash Nagar Metro Station demanding justice in New Delhi. (File Photo: IANS)

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of 88 people by a trial court in connection with 1984 anti-Sikh riots in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri area.

Justice R.K. Gauba dismissed the appeals of the convicts who had challenged a 1996 judgment of a Sessions Court which had convicted the 89 arrested on November 2, 1984.

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According to the FIR lodged in connection with the Trilokpuri killings, 95 people died in the rioting and 100 houses were burnt, said senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, who has been representing the riot victims.

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The 1984 riots followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Hundreds of innocent Sikhs were killed, mainly in Delhi.

Among the 89 convicts, some died during their appeals and the case against them has abated, police had earlier said.

Convicting all the 89 for various offences including rioting, the trial court sentenced them to five years in jail.

A Delhi court earlier on November 20, sentenced to death one of the two convicts found guilty of killing two Sikh men during the 1984 riots, the first capital punishment in the case. The other convict was sentenced to life in prison.

Read | Delhi court orders first death sentence in 1984 anti-Sikh riot case

Yashpal Singh was given death penalty whereas, Naresh Sehrawat was awarded life imprisonment for killing Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh in south Delhi’s Mahipalpur during the riots.

On November 14, the court had convicted Singh and Sherawat for killing two men here during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots — the first conviction in the cases reopened by the SIT.

The court held both the accused guilty under various sections including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 395 (dacoity) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the IPC.

(With inputs from IANS)

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