Delhi HC junks plea against 30-year-old order acquitting 16 in 1984 riots case

The Delhi high court has refused to accept an appeal put forward by the Delhi Police against a 30-year-old city court’s order to acquit 16 people in connection with a case stemming from the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The case pertained to the November 1, 1984 murder of three people by a mob in Delhi’s Nand Nagri area.

On Tuesday, a bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Saurabh Banerjee, while acknowledging the loss of human lives and property during the riots, said that the delay of filing an appeal in January 2025 against a ruling delivered on February 22, 1995, could not be condoned.

In its eight-page order, delivered on February 25 but released later, the court also relied on four rulings delivered by a coordinate bench in July 2023 to refuse to accept the state’s appeal against acquittals where the delay ranged from 27 to 36 years.

“In the present case, the delay would be more than 29 years. While this court is conscious of the large-scale quantum of human lives and property during the 1984 riots, after having seen the quantum of delay and the discussion in the impugned judgement, following the similar orders already passed, the delay is not liable to be condoned and leave is not liable to be granted,” the court said.

The Delhi Police was represented by additional public prosecutor Ritesh Kumar Bahri along with advocate Divya Yadav.

The order comes days after the Supreme Court had questioned the long delay by the Delhi high court in deciding appeals in 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases — some were pending for over seven years — and called for a report within a month.

On February 17, a bench headed by justice AS Oka had also directed the Delhi Police to expedite the filing of appeals before the top court against six high court orders of acquittal.