Senior lawyer HS Phoolka quits AAP, says wants to focus on 84 riots case

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party, which is battling charges against senior leader Somnath Bharti, suffered another setback on Saturday after senior lawyer and party member HS Phoolka resigned.

Phulka, in a Facebook post, said he will resign from all the party posts and is quitting active politics to concentrate on the 1984 riots case in which he is the petitioner.

"As much as an inherent part as I am of AAP, my dedication to the cause of 1984 remains unaltered. At this stage, where I feel I am needed more for these cases, I must not hesitate to take a step back from everything else and give the cause my undivided attention," Phoolka said in this Facebook post.

"The cases of the genocide of 1984 have down the years become synonymous with me and the reality is that if I do not give them all my time and attention they are likely to be adversely affected, whereas AAP has managed to find its foothold in Punjab."

"It appears that the victory of AAP in the 2017 elections is inevitable. It is extremely unfortunate that despite the passage of over three decades, even today we are fighting for the same thing we have been fighting for since 1984... to bring the real culprits to book."

The Delhi High Court had on Wednesday suspended proceedings against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Justice Siddharth Mridul put on hold the proceedings after victims of the alleged incident filed a plea for transfer of the case from District and Sessions Judge Kamlesh Kumar to any other competent court.

The court issued notice to Sajjan Kumar and the Central Bureau of Investigation to file replies on the victims' plea.

The court was hearing a plea filed by complainant Joginder Singh and prosecution witness Sheela Kaur, seeking tranfer of the matter. Phoolka, who is the victim's counsel, said trial court judge Kamlesh Kumar on September 10 did not record the statement of witness Kaur in a "correct sense".