1984 riots: victims oppose Sajjan's plea to drop witnesses

NEW DELHI: The victims in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case today opposed Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's plea to drop nine CBI witnesses in a Delhi court, saying they are "very important" and leaving them out will be miscarriage of justice.

"The CBI had filed a consolidated charge sheet of three separate FIRs and the nine prosecution witnesses, who are very important in related matter, can not be dropped," senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for the victims, said.

Phoolka made his submission before District Judge J R Aryan during hearing on a plea by Kumar and three other accused who had sought removal of agency's witnesses claiming they were "irrelevant".

The victim's counsel contended that if the witnesses are left out then, there will be miscarriage of justice.

Meanwhile, the CBI had filed its response on applications of Kumar and others seeking summoning of records of the two other riots-related cases which have already been decided.

Phoolka also informed the court that there are number of appeals pending before the Delhi high court and in these circumstances the accused can get the certified copy of the documents they required.

The arguments which remained inconclusive will continue on October 19.

In a related development, Polk has written to the Delhi Police Commissioner seeking security for the witnesses so that they can give statements without any threat or fear and their testimony remains "uninfluenced, unbiased and factual".

To this request, the Commissioner has assured proper security to the witnesses, so that they can appear fearlessly for their deposition.

Earlier, the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) had asked police to provide 24-hour security to three witnesses in the cases involving senior Congress leader.

The court had earlier framed various charges including murder and rioting against Kumar, Brahmanand Gupta, Peru, Khushal Singh and Ved Prakash in connection with killing of a man in Sultanpuri area in the riots that had occurred after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Accused Khushal Singh has died.