Arvind Kejriwal seeks PM's intervention for SIT probe into Sikh riots

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal today sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and ensure justice to the victims.

In a letter to Modi, Kejriwal welcomed Centre's decision to give Rs five lakh each to next of kin of 3,325 victims of the riots but at the same time asked him to implement the erstwhile AAP government's decision to appoint an SIT to probe the cases.

The former Delhi chief minister said the trauma of losing near and dear ones cannot be compensated by money and the guilty should be punished.

"If four of my family members were killed, then Rs five lakh cannot compensate me. Why they are not ensuring justice? We decided to form SIT. Why the decision has not been implemented," Kejriwal told PTI.

He accused both Congress and BJP of not ensuring justice to victims of Sikh riots.

"The victims are still hoping for justice even 30 years after the riots. The Congress governments did nothing. BJP government had come but it also did nothing. AAP was the only party which ordered setting up of a SIT within one month of coming to power," Kejriwal said.

The AAP government had on February 6 recommended to the Lt Governor setting up of an SIT with a time frame of one year to submit its report.

The Delhi Cabinet while approving the modalities had stated that all those cases which were closed or shown untraced, would be reopened, reinvestigated and if the need arises fresh FIRs will be filed.

Subsequently, the Lt Governor had approved the proposal but no notification was issued to set up the probe panel.

The Modi government has decided to give Rs five lakh each to the next of kin of 3,325 victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

Of the 3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while rest of the victims were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.

In 2006, the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh had announced a package of Rs 717 crore which included monetary compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh to the kin of each killed in the riots besides financial assistance to the injured and those who had lost their property.