Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 29

During his tenure as the Defence Minister, the late George Fernandes presided over Kargil war, oversaw one of the biggest post World War-II movement of troops and scientists working under his ministry conducted the second nuclear test at Pokhran in May 1999. He nudged the forces into modernising for the 21st century.

Fernandes, who passed away today, had two tenures—March 1998 to March 2001 and October 2001 to May 2004—as Defence Minister during the six-year (1998-2004) NDA regime led by BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

At the beginning of his tenure, the nuclear test happened and India ended up with sanctions imposed by the US and faced an angry Japan—both ironically are quite close to India now.

During the Kargil war in 1999, Fernandes refused to accept the theory of intelligence failure and ordered the forces to throw out the Pakistani troops; India attained a moral victory. In New Delhi, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) rolled out one of biggest compensation packages for soldiers martyred in the war. Then came the biggest change as the MoD okayed addition of more troops in eastern Ladakh—Kargil is part of the Army’s Leh-based 14 Corps that was raised after the war.

In the aftermath of the attack on Parliament in December 2001, Indian forces launched ‘Operation Parakram’, the biggest movement of troops after World War-II (1939-45). The 10-month-long deployment that saw nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan in an eyeball-to-eyeball scenario yielded some important military lessons.

From this was born the concept called ‘cold start’ that envisages the military to be ready to go to war at a short notice. The purchase of 126 MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) jets initiated during his tenure and so was the Scorpene submarine deal. It was in 1999 that the MoD okayed the artillery modernisation plan and the submarine action plan—both are being fructified now with the induction of new artillery guns and submarines.

Old timers remember that Fernandes had “earned” the sobriquet of a “Soldiers Minister”. Once during his more than 16 visits to Siachen, he ordered that mail be delivered to troops once a week, and not fortnightly.

In 2003 when the media was unkind to him over frequent MiG-21 crashes and dubbed the aircraft as a “flying coffin”, Fernandes undertook a sortie on the backseat of the jet to drive home the point these were safe.

No PC/FVR/18/09                                                   Dated 09 Oct 2018.

To,

            Parliamentary of India,

            Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Grievances;

            New Delhi, 110001.

PUBLIC COMPLAINT.

ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED IN 5 STATES – NOT LIKELY TO BE FREE & FAIR SINCE FOOLROOF REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR MILITARY & PARA-MILITARY FORCES AT PLACE OF SERVICE – NOT EVOLVED, WHEN ONLY THOSE LISTED IN ELECTORAL ROLLS HAVE RIGHT TO VOTE.

Sir,

            Ref your No RS.7/1/2006-P&L dated 5 Dec 2006 to Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances & Pension, Sardar Patel Bhavan, New Delhi & Adjutant General Branch letter No B/25222/AG/PS-2C of 16/17 Nov 2007 & No 34891/EC/MP-8 (I of R)(ADP) of 15 May 2018 with a copy to undersigned.

2. Only those registered in Electoral Rolls have Right to Vote – Section 62 of RP Act 1951. No ERO nominated for Military Stations till date, amounts to breach of Official Duty in connection with preparation of Electoral Rolls – punishable with imprisonment / fine / both, under Section 32 of RP Act 1950 overlooked by ECI/MoD. CEOs of 62XCBs nominated as EROs, illegally directed not to enumerate Soldiers residing in such Cantonments, amounting to breach of Right to Equality to those who protect sovereignty & integrity of India at any cost.

3. Election Nodal Officers nominated instead of EROs for Military Stations, overlooking RP Act / Rules. Ignorance, exploited to facilitate Politicians, hence FIRs against Stone Palters withdrawn by CM J&K, not objected by COAS / GOC-in-C responsible to protect interest of innocent Soldiers. However good the Election Law may be; if badly executed, it is no good. AIR 1971 SC 2123; ruled Right to be Registered at place of Service, cannot be taken away, if residing there – case pertaining to Naga Land but Adjutant  General illegally issued SAO 16/S/72 that AFs entitled to be registered at home town, not objected by MoD/ECI, facilitating Politicians, who started getting better wages.

4. Section 20(7) of RP Act 1950; ‘if in any case a question arises as to where a person is ‘Ordinarily Resident’, at any relevant time, the question shall be determined with reference to all the facts of the case and to such rules as may be made in this behalf by the Centre Govt. in consultation with ECI. RP Act 1950 – the meaning of ‘service qualification’, under Section 20(8) of RP Act 1950 is – being a person who is employed under the Govt. of India, in a post outside India, read in conjunction with sub-sections 20(3) – is deemed to be ‘ordinarily resident’ on any date in the constituency in which, but for his having such ‘service qualification’, he would have been ‘ordinarily resident’ on that date.All Govt. Servants employed in India are deemed to be ‘ordinarily residents’ at their place of posting, without any option of availing the facility of “fictional domicile”, hence wrongly applied to AFs only.

5. Amendment Act 2/56 – Section 20(8)(a)&(b) were added – ‘Service Qualification’ was made applicable / extended to those AFs personnel posted abroad, in the light of Section 20(3).  EC a single service commission, applied ‘Service Qualification’ to Soldiers posted in India, amounting to gross misuse of authority, with the intension of illegally neutralizing ‘apolitical vote bank of AFs’ – not objected by RM / COAS suiting convenience of Politicians. Under the Act/Rules, there is no term called “Service Voter’; coined by MoD, to confuse innocent Soldiers – Chapter X of DSR 1960’.

6. Registration of Electors Rules 1960 – under Rule 7(3) – Statement under Section 20 of RP Act 1950 shall cease to be valid when the person making it ceases to hold declared office or, as the case may be, have a ‘service qualification’.It implies AFs personnel like other Govt. Servants, on posting back to India, cease to have ‘service qualification’ but MoD/ECI continues to apply ‘Service Qualification’ to those posted in India, since no Military Officers is posted to ECI / MoD.

7. Law & Order a State Subject hence, Forces deployed to maintain Law & Order (Naga Land/J&K) supposed to be working for State Govt., hence have a similar right to be registered at their place of service, as applicable to that State Govt. employs upheld under AIR 1971 SC 2123.

8. Amendment Act 33/64 – Home Ministry recommended Postal Ballot for Para Military Forces, based on the premise; it is permitted to AFs – Section 20 (8) (c) was added – being a member of an Armed Police Force of a State, who is serving outside that State or (d) being a person who is employed under the Govt. of India, in a post outside India, ignoring‘Service Qualification’ is demitted on posting back to India under Rule 7(3) Registration of Rules 1960. Amendment Act 33/64 could not have been passed by the Parliament, if ECI had interpreted Registration Rules 1960 correctly. 

9. Amendment Act 47/66 – ECI proposed omitting of words when posted abroad from Section 20 (3), with the mischievous intention of covering-up the corrupt practice of applying‘Service qualification’ to those posted in India since 1952, amounting to lack of professional integrity. 

10. AIR 1971 SC 2123 – Assam Rifles personals & their family members posted at Wokha – Naga Land registered, at place of posting – challenged by the Candidate, who lost elections.  SC ruled ‘the statutory fiction is intended to confer the right to be registered as electors at their home town or village but the fiction cannot take away the right of person possessing service qualification to get registered at a constituency in which they are ordinarily residing though such place happens to be their place of service’.Adjutant General misused authority issued SAO 16/S/72 – AFs can vote only through Postal Ballot, overreaching SC ruling. Military Pension reduced from 70% to 50% compensation for early retirement & Civil Pension increased from 33% to 50% after full service, without fear of electoral loss.

11. AIR 1984 SC 921 – EC cannot override RP Act / Rules.ECI continues to overlook Rule 7(3) by applying ‘service qualification’ to those posted in India, when it ceases on posting back to India for other services amounting to discrimination not objected by COAS/Adjutant General facilitating Politicians. 

12. Army Order 15/95 (EC letter of 20 Mar 1995) – EC diluted/changed the Supreme Court ruling that – Soldiers & their Family Members staying with them, can vote at place of posting (instead of they have a right to be registered), if they don’t want to avail the facility of Postal Ballot amounting to overreaching the Supreme Court when ECI is executing agency without powers to frame Rules.

13. Army Order 15/95 stipulates, AFs can get themselves registered during house-to-house enumeration never conducted by ECI for Military areas, amounting to derelict performance of election duty not objected by Station Commanders. Intensive revision in Punjab in progress except Military Areas not objected by Commanders / Secy. RSB Punjab to facilitate Politicians.

14. Parliamentary Committee on Grievances – letter of 5 Dec 2006, desired foolproof system of registration for Soldiers be evolved, which requires sensitizing innocent Soldiers about their Constitutional Right to be Registered at their place of posting & the Postal Ballot only when posted abroad, by nominating dedicated EROs – not done amounting to disrespect to the Parliament.

15. On the contrary – EC under Hand Book – 2008 – debarred EROs to enumerate Armed Forces & family members during intensive / summery revision of rolls, amounting to looking Tokyo talking London. The Center Commandants rightly register those posted abroad for Postal Ballot but also illegally register those posted in India for Postal Ballot without logic overlooked by ECI under lame excuse authenticated by another Commissioned Officer.

16. EC under letter dated 28 Dec 2008 desired Chief Electoral Officers of all States to increase numbers for the Postal Ballot when no Gazetted Officer is supposed to influence elections. CEOs of all States blindly followed instructions of the EC – increased numbers for the Postal Ballot for those posted in India, amounts to unduly influencing elections – rigging of elections / discrimination against Soldiers; a separate class of people promoting enmity between Classes in connection with Elections Section 125 of RP Act 1951. ECintentionally didn’t apply election law, in respect of Forces for the last 68 years & there is no hope of justice, till Multi Service ECI is not constituted.

17. CWP 3775/2009 filed at Chandigarh High Court by Brig HS Ghuman, SC, Retd, & others for not enumerating Soldiers at their place of posting in India, when those registered in Naga Land during 1967 elections defended by ECI – AIR 1971 SC 2123 which should have been filed by Secy. Defence / COAS if they had any respect for the Election Law of the Land.

18. CEC of India knows14.5 Lakh Soldiers & their family members posted in India illegally registered for E-postal Ballot overlooked by COAS amounts to indulging in Politics. Need exists to post Military Officers to ECI & State CEOs to protect democratic right of Military Forces.    

19. Elections announced by CEC of India for 5 States (Chhattisgarh, MP, Mizoram, Rajasthan & Talangana) will not be free & fair since Military & Para-military Forces deployed in these States to maintain Law & Order as also to protect sovereignty of India, at any cost, not registered at place of service, overlooking AIR 1971 SC 2123 defended by  ECI. Need exists to constitute Multi Service ECI to protect democratic right of Soldiers.

Brig. HS Ghuman, SC, Retd.

President AIVCG NGO Registered.

Copy to; RM, ECI, COAS, Adjutant General, COR Punjab Regt, RSB Punjab, KSB New Delhi, RSB Punjab. 

New Delhi, January 26

Continuing his style of greeting the crowd after the Republic Day parade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday walked on the Rajpath greeting people amid chants of “Modi, Modi”.

Modi has undertaken similar walks earlier too. He broke his security cover after last year’s Independence Day speech at the Red Fort when he stepped out of his car to meet schoolchildren.

Donning a yellow orange headgear with a red tail and kurta pyjama and Nehru jacket, Modi waved to the crowds enthusiastically as he zig-zagged the Rajpath, closely followed by security personnel and his slow-moving motorcade.

The Prime Minister started his walk soon after President Ram Nath Kovind and his South African counterpart and chief guest at the Republic Day parade, Cyril Ramaphosa, left Rajpath.

The crowds appeared pleased to get a glimpse of the Prime Minister from close.

As Modi went close to the seating enclosures, some chanted “Modi, Modi” while others captured the moment on their mobile phones and cameras.

Many came near the makeshift barricades to greet him. IANS

Any structural change produces resistance and so it was with the Supreme Court’s directives for appointing the top-most police officer in the states. Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh has called the apex court’s orders as ‘infringement’ upon the power of the states while the five states in the dock on Wednesday pleaded to be allowed to implement their local laws for the selection and appointment of Directors-General of Police (DGPs). Being custodians of law and order, states seek a free hand in assessing whether a person is suited to handle the special demands of the job. But that is not how the Supreme Court has framed the issue. Its July 3, 2018, order, which the states on Wednesday unsuccessfully sought to modify, is in the spirit of larger public interest and to protect police officials from political interference.

The case virtually folded up when the UPSC Secretary said Supreme Court-mandated panels of three eligible officers each were in the pipeline for 14 states. Of the two newly-minted Congress governments of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the latter has promised to quickly fall in line. Unless the abrasive attitude to the court’s insistence is a self-defensive reaction, states do have latitude in selection: its representative sits on the panel. The requirement of sending names of three officers to UPSC three months before the incumbent DGP retires is also fair. The states are themselves to blame for inviting the apex court’s intervention: in one case, a DGP was appointed an hour before he was to retire.

Changes begin from the top and once regularity sets in the appointment of DGPs, state security commissions need to be formed as per judicial directions. The widespread political indifference to systemic improvements in police forces is reflected in the Modi government’s lack of initiative. The Centre’s promise of ‘SMART police’in 2014 remained a nonstarter while states made little progress in filling vacancies or upgrading the infrastructure. Even after 22 years, there is no movement on separating investigation from law and order, pushing back the goal of a service-oriented police force to a distant future.

Our Correspondent

Kangra, January 13

Sacrifice of martyr Havlidar Zorawar Singh of Rait near Shahpur was remembered and tributes paid to him on the 156th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. On the occasion, Zorawar Singh’s parents were honoured on Saturday at Dronacharya College of Education at Rait.

Locals, intellectuals from Kangra and students attended the function in which parents of the martyr were honoured by the SSP, Kangra, Santosh Patial, the SDM, Shahpur, Jagan Thakur, and PR Agnihotri convenor of local branch of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanaya Kumari, and paid floral tributes to Zorawar Singh (43), who was killed in a fierce gunfight on the frontier of Kupwara district on March 21, 2018.

Subedar Rai Singh (retd), braveheart’s father, said he was blessed to have a son like Zorawar Singh. He said he fought three wars 1962 against China, 1965 against Pakistan and 1971 when Bangladesh was created. He said he was also a witness to the surrender of 97,000 Pakistan soldiers led by Gen Niazi. He said his son was inspired by him had joined the Indian army.

Zorwar Singh served for nine years in Jammu and Kashmir. For his dedicated service, he was given an extension of two years and posted in the 160- TA Battalion. Zorawar leading his platoon in Kupwara forests killed five militants, but only after two days, he was again assigned the job of combing the forest.He received seven bullets below his bullet-proof jacket and before attaining martyrdom shot the last militant dead. People gave standing ovation to the parents of the martyr.

Pune, December 25

Asserting that India should adopt a “clear-cut roadmap” to tackle the Kashmir issue, former DGP of Jammu and Kashmir K Rajendra Kumar has said the US pulling out troops from Afghanistan will have implications in the Valley and terrorist outfits may feel emboldened.

Kumar was delivering the Lalitaditya Memorial Lecture in Pune, organised by the Sarhad organisation. He also said that there was a need to send a stern message to Pakistan for its support to militancy.

“A stern message needs to be sent out to Pakistan in terms of retaliation. We need to make it more costly for Pakistan because today it is not feeling the pinch it should feel,” said Kumar.

He said India should deal strongly with Pakistan over the training camps and terrorist launchpads.

“Now the USA is exiting Afghanistan. It will have implications in Kashmir. It is only a matter of time before we will feel its implications in the Valley. After the US withdrawal, the terrorist organisations will feel pumped up, emboldened,” he said.

Seeing America’s withdrawal as a “sign of victory”, terrorist outfits can feel that New Delhi can also be defeated. So, there is an urgent need for India to adopt a “clear-cut roadmap” to deal with terrorism in Kashmir, he asserted.

The US is planning to withdraw 7,000 troops from Afghanistan. The American troops contribute to training and advising local forces fighting the Taliban and the Islamic State group.

Underling Pakistan’s active role in spreading terrorism in the Valley, the former IPS officer said Pakistan was not only sponsoring terrorism but also sending its nationals to Kashmir in the garb of fighting jihad. “No matter which government is in power, Pakistan continues to sponsor terrorism in the Valley,” he said.

He said militancy in Kashmir started with local terrorist organisations but now it was tilting towards Islamic extremism. “The Valley has a rich history of Sufism but over the years it has moved towards Wahabism,” he said, adding that efforts should be made to take Kashmir back to Sufism.

Suggesting measures, he said the state needed stringent laws to deal with anti-national forces and a concrete policy to encourage youths to give up militancy.

The surrender policy must ensure that youth who give up militancy are gainfully employed and discouraged from returning to it, he said. He also called for political outreach and empowerment of the civil society.

He said the social media had played a destructive role in inciting sentiments of the youth. — PTI

The recent order by the Cyber and Information Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs giving 10 Central agencies the power to intercept and monitor information on computer devices has rightly been criticised by a cross-section of society. The order would empower such agencies to access computers of any individual or organisation, giving them the power of ‘interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer’.  Computers are the fulcrum of day-to-day lives and activities of individuals, and allowing any agency unbridled power to snoop over them smacks of an Orwellian overreach. There should be judicial oversight to any situation that requires a security agency to infringe on an individual’s privacy. Due process should never be threatened by the possibility of subversion due to expedience or for any other reason.

The country has started setting boundaries for international companies by asking them aggressively to locate their data centres in India, and thus curb the flow of information on Indian citizens internationally. Indeed, even financial services like Mastercard have now started purging data on Indian credit card holders from international servers, and there has been some movement in social media sites locating data centres in India. All this is to safeguard the privacy of Indian citizens and save their information from being traded by apps and cyber companies. Any encroachment of privacy is a matter of concern, be it from international conglomerates or the government. Indian citizens have a right to privacy and this must be respected.

The government’s defence that it has basically modified an earlier order to the same effect is a weak one. The language of this order allows any of these agencies to demand access to data stored in computers of any kind. Not only that, they can ask for the data to be decrypted and monitor data that is transmitted from computers. ‘Surveillance state’ fears expressed by Opposition leaders are real, and it is up to the state and its agencies to reassure the citizens.

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar engaged in a criminal conspiracy, promoted enmity, and acted against communal harmony in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and has been sentenced to life by the Delhi High Court. The conviction of a senior politician marks a watershed in the quest for justice for the victims of the 1984 violence, even as it vindicates the stand of those who pursued justice relentlessly for 34 years to bring the guilty to book. The high court took the evidence of two eyewitnesses, and based on their testimony, reversed the earlier trial court verdict acquitting Sajjan Kumar, even as it upheld the conviction of the others accused in the case and enhanced their sentence.

The tide seems to have turned in favour of those seeking justice for the carnage that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. There was a conviction last month too. The sentencing of Sajjan Kumar — who was a Member of Parliament in 1984 and remained politically active for long thereafter — will surely send a chilling message to politicians who feel a sense of impunity even as they tear apart the country’s social fabric by instigating various groups of people against one another. Riot after riot has roiled India, often with the ‘blessing’ of the party in power at the time, with little consequence for the individuals who perpetuated the violence.

The latest conviction has been widely welcomed among Punjabis, including Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar. However, it has obviously provided fodder to the BJP’s propaganda machine, more so since the verdict coincides with the swearing-in of Congress leader Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minster. Nath, too, has been under a cloud for his role in the ’84 riots, but nothing has stuck so far. There will, no doubt, be fresh calls for justice by victims energised 34 years after the killings. The nation owes it to itself to let justice take its course, and demonstrate that those who had conviction in the system were not wrong.

For first time I feel this is my own country: Jagdish Kaur

http://

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 17

Partially relieved by the conviction of Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Kaur, the prime complainant in the case against the Congress leader, today said her fight for justice was far from over and she would struggle till the last breath of her life.

“I want Sajjan Kumar to hang. I have seen my son burn to death in front of my eyes. And this was done at the behest of Sajjan Kumar.  I will go to the Supreme Court but I must say for the first time today I feel this is my own country. Till now I felt Indian laws were not for the 1984 riot survivors,” said Jagdish Kaur, flanked by cousin Jagsher Singh, both witnesses in the case the HC decided today.

She still remembers the afternoon of November 1, 1984, when “communally charged mobs incited by Sajjan Kumar” attacked her house in Delhi Cantonment’s Raj Nagar from all sides. “They had sariyas, other lethal weapons and pounced upon my son Gurpreet. My husband was dragged and his head crushed till he dropped dead. Gurpreet ran some distance before he was set on fire,” remembers Jagdish Kaur, wiping her tears.

She said after shifting her son’s body back into the house, she went to the police post to get help for cremation. “I still remember what the ASI said. He said ‘bhag yahan se, abhi to aur marenge,” recalls Kaur, who used furniture in the house to perform the last rites.

Even today Jagdish Kaur thanks her stars for sending her three small daughters and a son to a Hindu neighbour’s house for shelter.

“Not all Hindus wanted to kill Sikhs. These were only a few politically motivated crowds that wanted to earn brownie points in the eyes of their masters. I was saved by a Hindu, so were my cousin Jagdish Kaur’s four children,” remembers Jagsher, who lost three brothers to the carnage on November 2, 1984.

“It was November 2, a day after Jagdish Kaur lost her husband and 18-year-old son Gurpreet, a gold medallist in BSc. I had gone out of the house to park my bike when the crowds attacked. I ran and hid in a Hindu neighbour’s house. My brothers — Narinderpal Singh, Raghuvinder Singh and Kuldip Singh — were killed. The fight for justice has taken unbelievably long and it’s not yet over,” Jagsher Singh, now based in Gurdaspur, said.

For her part, Jagdish Kaur, who moved to Amritsar after riots, withstood threats and inducements to see this day. She slammed the Congress for appointing Kamal Nath, allegedly involved in the riots, as CM of Madhya Pradesh, saying, “I am not surprised. Sajjan Kumar also got top positions. This is their character. They have no value for human lives.”

Court on survivors’ courage

• The accused have been brought to justice primarily on account of the courage and perseverance of three eyewitnesses — Jagdish Kaur, whose husband, son and three cousins were among the five killed; Jagsher Singh, another cousin of Jagdish Kaur, and Nirpreet Kaur, who saw the Raj Nagar Gurdwara being burnt down and her father being burnt alive by the raging mobs… the witnesses were fearless and truthful.

‘84 riots: HC blasts Delhi Police for ‘active connivance’ in carnage

New Delhi, December 17

The killing of over 2,700 Sikhs in the national capital during the 1984 riots was a “carnage of unbelievable proportions” and the way the Delhi Police acted at that time established their “apathy” and “active connivance” in the brutal murders, the Delhi High Court Monday said in stringent observations.

The high court, which convicted and sentenced senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life term for “remainder of his natural life” in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, blasted the Delhi Police for its “abject failure” in probing the violence following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

It said that police had “indeed turned a blind eye and blatantly abetted the crimes committed by the rioting mob” and the probe conducted by them in these cases was a farce.

A Bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel noted it was “extraordinary” that despite there being as many as 341 deaths in the Delhi Cantonment area alone over the span of four days beginning November 1, 1984, only 21 FIRs were lodged, of which only 15 pertained to deaths or murders.

“Ultimately, only five bodies were recovered and that too was because of the intervention of Army,” the high court said, adding, it is “trite” that for each incident involving offence of murder, a separate FIR had to be registered.

In its judgement, the Bench said, “What happened in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi was indeed carnage of unbelievable proportions in which over 2,700 Sikhs were murdered in Delhi alone”.

Referring to the case on killing of five Sikhs, the Bench said, “The law and order machinery had clearly broken down and it was literally a free for all situation which persisted”. It said there was no question of clubbing many complaints pertaining to several deaths in one FIR and it was strange that despite the widespread killing and bedlam in the area, no mention of this was found in the daily diary register (DDR) maintained by the police.

“It is clear, therefore, that in those chaotic conditions, the local police force was inadequate for the task at hand,” the Bench said, adding the DDR was completely silent about the commission of any cognizable offence although as many as 30 murders had occurred in Raj Nagar area itself.

“These circumstances establish the apathy of the Delhi Police and their active connivance in the brutal murders being perpetrated,” the Bench said.

The case relates to killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984 and burning down of a Gurdwara in Raj Nagar part II.

The high court said aftershocks of atrocities against the Sikhs were still being felt and the need for proper probe in these cases was also acknowledged by the apex court which had in January this year constituted a special investigating team to investigate as many as 186 cases.

“As pointed out by the trial court, the state machinery came to a complete standstill in those two or three days when the rioting mobs took to the streets and indulged in acts of violence and killings, and setting properties on fire,” it said.

The court noted that the “mayhem, destruction, and murders” that rocked Raj Nagar area ensured exodus of Sikhs and many of the males were either killed or were put in such a fear that they were scared to be seen in long hair and beards.

“There was a two-pronged strategy adopted by the attackers. The first was to liquidate all Sikh males and the other was to destroy their residential houses leaving the women and children utterly destitute. The attack on the Raj Nagar Gurdwara was clearly a part of the communal agenda of the perpetrators,” it said.

The high court directed 73-year-old Kumar and other five convicts to surrender by December 31, 2018, and not to leave Delhi.

Six accused, including Sajjan Kumar, who was a Member of Parliament at that time, were sent for trial in 2010 and three years later, the lower court had convicted five of the accused but acquitted the Congress leader of all the charges.

The high court convicted Sajjan Kumar for criminal conspiracy and abetment in commission of crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony and defiling and destruction of a Gurdwara.

The Bench also upheld the conviction and varying sentences awarded by the trial court to former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former MLAs Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar. PTI