1984 riots: Delhi HC refuses to condone 27-yr delay in appealing against murder acquittal

The Delhi High Court has refused to grant permission to the State to challenge the acquittal of three accused persons in a 1984 Sikh riots case after a delay of more than 27 years.

A bench of Justice Prathiba. M. Singh and Justice Amit Sharma on October 21 noted it was conscious of the large-scale loss of human lives and property but it couldn’t condone the “long delay” in filing of the appeal by the prosecution.

“In the present case, the delay would be more than 27 years. While this Court is conscious of the large-scale loss of human lives and property during the 1984 riots, considering the long delay and the decisions of the coordinate bench in similar cases, upheld by the Supreme Court, the delay is not liable to be condoned. Thus, leave is not liable to be granted,” the court said.

The case was registered at Police Station Delhi, Cantonment against three individuals - Niranjan Kumar, Ram Kumar, and Sharwan Kumar.

The prosecution had urged the court to condone the delay of 10,165 days in filing the appeal against the trial court’s order of acquittal passed on July 29, 1995 in the murder and rioting case.

Dismissing the plea, the Bench held, “Considering the long delay and the decisions of the coordinate Bench in similar cases, upheld by the Supreme Court, the delay is not liable to be condoned”.

The prosecution, on the other hand, had said the Justice S. N. Dhingra Committee was constituted in December 2018 to look into the cases in relation to violence and after its report came out in April 2019, internal reviews were conducted and the matters were processed for filing of appeals.

On merits, the prosecution stated that the trial court has given the benefit of doubt to the three accused primarily on the grounds of delay in lodging of the FIR; and that there were contradictions and improvements in the testimony of the witnesses.

Published - October 25, 2024 01:22 am IST