No Relief for Jagdish Tytler in Sikh Riots Case, Delhi High Court to Hear Plea on November 29
New Delhi: In connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case involving the Pul Bangash Gurudwara violence, Jagdish Tytler has not received any interim relief from the Delhi High Court. The court has scheduled the hearing on his plea, challenging the trial court’s order to frame charges against him, for November 29. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri’s bench has refused to stay the ongoing trial proceedings in the lower court. The High Court directed Tytler’s lawyer, Arvind Nigam, to file statements from the witnesses in the case.
Nigam argued that the trial court’s order to frame charges was unlawful and that Tytler is being harassed in this decades-old case. He highlighted that Tytler is the only accused in the case and that the CBI had previously submitted a closure report after filing a supplementary charge sheet. Nigam further pointed out that the CBI is now relying on statements from witnesses who had earlier provided different testimony. He asserted that there is no substantial evidence to frame charges against Tytler.
On August 30, the Rouse Avenue Court had ordered framing charges against Tytler under sections 147, 149, 153A, 188, 109, 295, 380, and 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Tytler had earlier, on September 13, denied the charges and expressed his willingness to face trial.
During the Rouse Avenue Court hearing, Tytler’s lawyer, Manu Sharma, argued that the CBI had filed two closure reports in the case. He recalled that in 2009, a charge sheet had been filed against co-accused Suresh Kumar, who was later acquitted by the trial court. Sharma questioned how witnesses, emerging after such a long gap from 1984 to 2022-23, could be considered reliable. On August 4, 2023, the sessions court at Rouse Avenue had granted Tytler anticipatory bail. The court had taken cognizance of the charge sheet against him on July 26, 2023.
According to the CBI, Tytler allegedly incited a mob that set fire to the Pul Bangash Gurudwara during the 1984 riots. The charges include sections 147, 109, and 302 of the Indian Penal Code.