Delhi High Court asks AAP govt to decide 1984 riots convict's plea for parole in two weeks

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the AAP government to decide in two weeks the parole plea of Balwan Khokhar, who along with former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Justice Najmi Waziri asked the Delhi government to treat former Congress councillor Khokhar’s plea as a representation and to communicate its decision to him in two weeks. [caption id=“attachment_5256961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] With the direction, the court disposed off the petition seeking parole for a month to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the high court’s December 17 decision. The high court on 17 December, 2018 had set aside the trial court’s verdict, which had acquitted Kumar in a case related to killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony in south west Delhi on 1-2 November, 1984, and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II during that period. The riots had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards. The high court, in its verdict, had also upheld the conviction and varying sentences awarded by the trial court to the other five — Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former MLAs Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar. It had also convicted them for criminal conspiracy to burn down residences of Sikh families and a gurdwara in the area during the riots. The trial court in 2013 had awarded life term to Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal, and a three-year jail term to Yadav and Kishan Khokhar. Following the high court verdict, life term of Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal has been upheld and the sentence of Yadav and Kishan Khokar has been enhanced to 10 years in jail. The high court in its judgment had said that the riots were a “crime against humanity” perpetrated by those who enjoyed “political patronage” and aided by an “indifferent” law enforcement agency.