As soon as the judge sat on the dais to hear the anticipatory bail plea filed by Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a jam-packed courtroom in Delhi on Wednesday, the victims raised a cry for justice. “Assi 39 saalan ton intezaar kar re ne (We’ve been waiting for the last 39 years),” said the people who lost their loved ones in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, demanding justice and denial of bail to the former union minister.
While the cries and agony of the victims marked the beginning of the hearing before Special CBI Judge Vikas Dhull at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, their legal team led by senior advocate HS Phoolka pacified them.
Then began the arguments of senior advocate Manu Sharma, representing Jagdish Tytler, stating that in this case, the witnesses have come forward after four decades and it has to be seen what the investigating agency has done earlier.
“None of these people who today are making noises ever deposed anywhere,” Sharma argued while also adding that the witnesses included after 25 years cannot be trusted.
“My political career is ruined because of it,” he said on behalf of Tytler, maintaining that his client is not a flight risk.
Opposing the submissions made by the Congress leader’s legal team, Phoolka argued that Tytler threatened him on live television.
He also said that this is the first such case in the country where three times a closure report has been filed and three times the court has rejected it.
Phoolka said that the court will decide on the edge of merit in the case; whether the maximum penalty of death sentence should be given or not is a matter of trial.
He argued that this is not just a case of the killing of three Sikhs but one related to the massacre of the community.
“3,000 people were killed in broad daylight in Delhi…People who raped and killed Sikh women were honoured; that’s why we are all seeing what is happening in Manipur today,” said Phoolka.
The senior advocate also said that the same pattern of killings that took place during Partition at the time of Independence was also seen in the anti-Sikh riots, as well as in Gujarat, Muzaffarnagar, and other places.
The Central Bureau of Investigation too opposed Tytler’s anticipatory bail, saying the witnesses have come forward showing great courage and the possibility of influencing them cannot be ruled out.
The CBI said that as per the statements of the new witnesses, prima facie the role of Jagdish Tytler appears.
Following the arguments, the court reserved its order which would be pronounced on August 4.
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