2 weeks Ago By Vineet Upadhyay
Former Union minister and Congress member Jagdish Tytler NEW DELHI: Four decades after three men were killed by a mob in Pul Bangash area of old Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots , a Delhi court on Friday ordered the framing of charges against former Union minister and Congress member Jagdish Tytler in the case. "Sufficient grounds are there to proceed against the accused person," special judge Rakesh Syal said. The court directed framing of charges against Tytler under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 109 (abetment), among others, while discharging him in offences under Section 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon).
The court listed the matter on Sept 13, when Tytler would have to appear in court and charges would be formally framed. On Nov 1, 1984, a mob had burned to death three people - Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh, and Gurcharan Singh - near Gurdwara Pul Bangash in north Delhi, which was also set on fire. CBI had given Tytler clean chit in 2009 New Delhi: A city court on Friday directed Congress functionary Jagdish Tytler to appear in court on Sept 13, when charges against him will be formally framed in the Gurdwara Pul Bangash case during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
On Nov 1, 1984, a mob had burnt to death three people - Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh, and Gurcharan Singh - near Gurdwara Pul Bangash at Azad Market in north Delhi, which was also set on fire. As per CBI's investigation, there was evidence on record to show that the accused had instigated, incited and provoked the mob gathered at Gurdwara Pul Bangash, resulting in the killings, arson and looting of shops. CBI claimed that Tytler instigated the mob by shouting, "Kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother!" The word "mother" referred to former PM Indira Gandhi , who was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
The complainant in the case, Lakhwinder Kaur, wife of deceased Badal Singh, was represented by senior advocate H S Phoolka and advocate Gurbaksh Singh, and the CBI was represented by public prosecutor Amit Jindal. Apart from sections dealing with murder and abetment to crime, the court on Friday also directed that Tytler be charged under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 188 (disobedience of the order duly promulgated by a public servant), 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), 451 (house trespass), 380 (theft in dwelling house) and 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object). A senior Congress functionary and a veteran of several elections, Tytler was elected to the Lok Sabha four times - in 1980, 1984, 1991 and 2004 -from the now-scrapped Delhi Sadar parliamentary seat.
He served as a Union minister and held different portfolios at different points in time in Congress govts, beginning with the Rajiv Gandhi govt. After CBI gave him a clean chit in the 1984 riots case in 2009, Congress announced his candidature from the North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, but had to withdraw it after a massive outrage from Sikhs. In October 2021, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi appointed Tytler as one of the 37 permanent invitees to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee.
He again hit the headlines when he was made a delegate of AICC ahead of its plenary session in February 2023..
