1984 riots: SIT gets another extension

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Punjab elections, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs ( MHA), to examine the 1984 Sikh riots cases have been given another extension till February 2017.

The panel set up in February 2015 was initially granted six months to complete re-investigations into Sikh massacre but due to voluminous records, the government gave two extensions.

In an RTI reply, MHA said “the term of SIT has been extended up to February 11, 2017.”

Deputy Secretary at MHA, MV Vijayan said, “SIT so far has scrutinized 291 cases and in the cases identified for further investigations, action has already been initiated for collecting evidences.”

According to officials familiar with the developments, the panel is examining 370 cases that were registered by Delhi police during the riots but remained “untraced”.

“SIT has so far published details of 51 cases in the newspaper,” as per MHA reply to RTI filed by Sanamdeep Singh Wazir, a member of Amnesty International.

The advertisements issued in poll-bound Punjab urged people to come forward to provide information that may help them in reinvestigation.

Officials said the cases taken up by the SIT relates to murders and arson and was identified by a team of investigator after examining more than 300 FIRs.