NEW DELHI: IT was around 12 noon when Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey received a call from the District Judge of the Patiala House Court that he will have to reach the Tihar jail for pronouncement of the quantum of sentence to the two convicts in an anti-Sikh riot case. Taking note of the violence that happened during the previous hearing earlier this month, when the court convicted Naresh Sherawat, 68, and Yashpal Singh, 55 of killing two men in Mahipalpur, the judge decided to hold the hearing inside premises of the Tihar jail.
Singh was handed death penalty, the first capital punishment in the riot cases, whereas Sherawat sentenced to life imprisonment. in 1994, the Delhi Police had closed the case for want of evidence. However, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to reopen and probe the case in 2015.
According to sources, the decision was conveyed to prosecutors as well as defence lawyers, and hurried arrangements were done at Asia’s largest prison complex for the hearing. “We didn’t want to take any chance this time, so we suggested the judge to think of shifting the venue as security would be a major hassle for us,” said a security officer posted at the Patiala house court.
The choice of venue, though, left hundreds of riot victims unhappy. “It is a matter of great relief for us that justice has finally done but after 2 pm when the court was about to pronounce the order, we were informed that the venue was shifted. We came to know about it only on phone from a lawyer,” Harminder Singh, a family member of one of the riot victims, said.