NEW DELHI: Thirty-four years after two men were killed by a mob during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, one of the two assailants was awarded capital punishment by a Delhi court in Tuesday. The other one was sentenced to life in prison.Naresh Sherawat, 68, and Yashpal Singh, 55, were convicted of killing two men in south Delhi’s Mahipalpur. They were also directed to pay a penalty of Rs 35 lakh each.
Pronouncing the verdict from the Tihar Jail, Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey said: “Incidents of this kind break the entire fabric of trust and harmony among communities, severely affecting the knitting and assimilation of different religious and social groups.” The court noted that both convicts escaped the process of law from 1984 to 2017.
“There was large-scale migration of people of the Sikh community, severely prejudicing their lives and livelihood in denial of constitutional guarantees. It may take decades to rebuild the trust again,” the judge said.
The court had last week held Naresh and Yashpal guilty of killing Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh on November 1, 1984 during the riots.The convictions followed testimonials of Hardev’s brothers Kuldeep Singh and Sangat Singh who had left Delhi with their family in 1985 and are now settled in a Jalandhar village.
Family wants fresh trial for Cong leader
The family of Hardev Singh wants Congress leader J P Singh to face fresh trial, as he allegedly led the mob that included Yashpal and Naresh. J P Singh was acquitted earlier and the state never appealed against it. The Delhi Police had closed the case in 1994 for want of evidence. A riots SIT later reopened it