In a freshly arising matter arising out of the Supreme Court, the Centre has approached with an application seeking permission to disband a special investigation team (SIT) in the 1984 Sikh riots. The SIT is headed by a former Delhi High Court judge S.N. Dhingra and comprised of retired IPS officer Rajdeep Singh and serving IPS officer Abhishek Dular (2006). The committee was set up by order of the Supreme Court on January 11, 2018, entrusted to supervise the further investigation in these cases, were the closure reports were already filed. However, later on, Singh cited ‘personal grounds’ to excuse him from the membership of the said SIT, and thus now the SIT has only two members.
The ground that the Centre has taken seeking disbandment of the said SIT saying that the SIT has completed its probe into the 186 cases registered in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The hearing in the case was conducted on Friday where the final report, as prepared by the SIT, was placed before the court in a sealed cover. The matter is deposed before a bench comprising of the newly appointed Chief Justice S.A. Bobde along with two other justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant. Appearing in the case, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG), Pinky Aanand briefed the bench that as the SIT has completed its work and has submitted the final report and thus should now be immediately discharged. She also argued that the report of the SIT is being shared with the court for its perusal in a sealed cover, and the details of the report should not be shared with the petitioners at this stage.
Riot victims urge SC to go through the report before disbanding the SIT.
The riot victims were being represented by senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, who has argued before the court to examine the final report of the SIT and to ascertain whether there are any inconsistencies which are to be filled before passing an order to disband it. The supreme court bench has taken the report as prepared and submitted by the SIT on record and has said it will hear the matter after two weeks after examining the said the report.
SIT report submitted after two-month extension granted by the Supreme Court
Earlier this year in 2018, the apex court had granted an extension of two weeks to the SIT for it to complete its probe. It was then that the SIT had informed the court that in the riot cases which has affected 186 people, more than 50% work has been completed and sought for an extension of two months to complete the said investigation and to submit the final report. The matter is relating to large scale riots which had broken out in the national capital of the country, New Delhi. It was seen as an aftermath of the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. The riots were anti-Sikh as Indira Gandhi was shot by her security guards (two), who were Sikh on the morning of October 31, 1984. In the massacre that followed afterwards, claimed a total of 2,733 lives alone in New Delhi