NEW DELHI: In doing so, Justice R K Gauba upheld the jail terms of more than 80 people for their involvement in burning houses and violation of curfew during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The convicts had challenged the August 27, 1996 judgement of a Sessions Court which had convicted 88 out of the 107 people arrested on November 2, 1984 for rioting, burning houses and curfew violation in Trilokpuri area of East Delhi.
It added that this case should serve as a lesson in how the criminal justice process should never take course, asserting, “The manner of prosecution of the case at hand would undoubtedly go-down in judicial history of this country as an example of of criminal law process that must never be emulated.
According to the FIR lodged in connection with the Trilokpuri incident, 95 people had died in the rioting and 100 houses were burnt, said senior advocate H S Phoolka, who has been representing the riot victims in various matters. Riots had engulfed the country after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 witnessed widespread rioting and killings of Sikhs in the national capital and across the country.
