Supreme Court Issues Notice In Six Appeals Against Acquittals In 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Cases

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice in six Special Leave Petitions filed by the Delhi Police challenging the acquittals of 14 accused persons in cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

“Issue notice. Registrar to provide the soft copy of the record of the trial court to the counsel appearing for parties. Parties to place on record a compilation of notes of evidence. Notice is made returnable on 21st of July”, the Court ordered.

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order.

The bench had been hearing a writ petition filed in 2016 by S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, in which the Supreme Court had ordered the constitution of the Justice SN Dhingra Committee. The petitioner is now seeking implementation of the recommendations of the Committee.

The Justice SN Dhingra Committee was constituted by the Supreme Court in 2018 and submitted its report in January 2020. The report opined that the investigation in several riot cases had been derailed and recommended, among other things, the filing of appeals against acquittals. The Delhi High Court had dismissed the appeals against acquittal on the ground of huge delay. The present six SLPs have been filed against the High Court orders.

On February 10, 2025, the Supreme Court had observed that the State must file appeals earnestly and with seriousness. “We are not on any particular outcome, but it must be pursued earnestly and with seriousness,” Justice Oka had said.

Appearing for the Delhi Police, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati had told the Court that the committee had recommended the filing of eight SLPs. She said that two SLPs had earlier been filed, which were dismissed, and six more have now been filed.

During the earlier hearing, the bench had questioned whether senior counsel had been engaged in the earlier matters and stated that filing SLPs would not serve any purpose unless done and prosecuted seriously. Senior Advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for the petitioner, had submitted that the appeals were filed “just as a formality.”

The petitioner had also submitted that a judgment of Justice Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court had observed that there was a “great cover-up” in the 1984 riots cases and that the State had not prosecuted the matters properly. He said that this judgment was not placed before the Delhi High Court in the earlier appeals.

The petitioner had further submitted that in one murder case, charges were framed against only 5 out of 56 accused, and the remaining 51 were discharged. He said the State must frame charges against the other accused. He also submitted that in many cases of murder and gang-rape, no trial took place due to closure reports filed by the investigating agencies.

The Court had then decided to hear the matter in detail rather than addressing individual grievances in a piecemeal manner.

Case no. – WP (Crl) 9/2016

Case Title – S Gurlad Singh Kahlon v. Union of India