A city court has lashed out at the Delhi Police for not completing probe even after 33 years in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case, saying it appeared that it had formed “a cartel to save” its officials who were allegedly involved in abetting the ghastly crime.
The court also expressed unhappiness over senior police officers vetting the charge sheet in the case “mechanically” and without noticing that the probe has not been carried out for tracing co-accused police officials.
“The case is a tell-tale of a sorry state of affairs where inspite of gravity of offences, the police persistently filed half-baked police reports. Even though commission of offences were writ large, the police continued to remain in denial,” Metropolitan Magistrate Shirish Aggarwal said.
The court issued notice to the investigating officer, inspector R K Meena, and directed him to carry out further probe and submit the report before it.
The order came on the murder case of one Sher Singh and assault on his son in the Mangolpuri area in North West Delhi during the 1984 riots that broke out after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The magistrate said over three decades have rolled by since commission of the “ghastly crime” and the offenders were still at large.
Even after the setting up of Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry, the report of the Delhi Administration Committee to examine cases relating to riots, setting up of riots cell and SIT for investigating the 1984 riots cases, the police has not taken any action against the personnel from its own cadres who have abetted the crime, the court said, noting that as per the SIT, investigation was now complete.
“However, despite specific allegations being made on oath on an affidavit (by witness) and before Delhi Administration Committee on October 4, 1991 against the police officials, who had reached the spot, absolutely no efforts have been made to find out their identity.
“It appears that all the police officials have formed a cartel to save each other. Abdicating its duty of fair investigation, the police dogmatically insisted that either the offences had not been committed or the offenders were not traceable,” the court said.
( Source – PTI )
