1984 RIOT ACCUSED YET TO BE CHARGE-SHEETED

Notwithstanding the fact that two Commissions of Inquiry and eight government-appointed committees have till date been constituted into the 1984 riots, many of the prime accused were either not charge-sheeted or were acquitted. Starting from the Marwah Commission appointed in November 1984, when Ved Marwah, Additional Commissioner of Police, was assigned the job of inquiring into the role of the police during the carnage, to the Nanavati Commission that was appointed by a unanimous resolution passed in the Rajya Sabha, these panels looked into various aspects of the violence. According to the victims, little relief came by way of these panels. Incidentally, while the records of the Marwah Commission were taken over by the government and later transferred to the Misra Commission, the handwritten notes of Mr. Marwah, which contained important information, were not transferred. Over the years, such episodes continued to eat into the confidence of the victims in the justice delivery system. Some relief was, however, provided by the Nanavati Commission. It submitted its report in February 2004. It claimed that there was evidence of Congressmen Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and H.K.L. Bhagat of instigating the mobs to violence. The Commission also held the then Delhi Police Commissioner S.C. Tandon directly responsible for the riots. Following this report, Jagdish Tytler resigned from the Union Cabinet and later Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised to the Sikhs for the riots.