Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's acquittal in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case was on Saturday challenged in the Delhi high court by members of the victims' family who contended that the trial court failed to appreciate the large number of legally admissible evidence in its verdict.
The indefinite hunger strike of anti-Sikh riot victims was called off on the sixth day on Wednesday after an appeal from Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh to the protesters.
Protests erupted in the national capital for the fourth day Friday against the acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in anti-Sikh riots case, with one of the victims starting indefinite fast and a group blocking a busy road triggering huge traffic snarl.
The appeal filed by Jagdish Kaur and Nirpreet Kaur, who had lost their close relatives in the carnage following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, has sought setting aside of the trial court's April 30 judgment. They have in their plea filed through advocate Kamna Vohra contended that the verdict was "erroneous" as the trial court had failed to appreciate that there was ample legally admissible evidence against Kumar to show he had allegedly "engineered" the murders of five Sikh persons in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment
Jagdish Kaur and Narpreet Kaur, whose families were devastated in the riots which claimed over 3,000 lives, said although 34 years is a long time, they were determined to "unmask the accused" and their fight for justice will go on.
The Delhi high court called the anti-Sikh riots case "communal frenzy" after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards.
The Delhi high court on Monday sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the two persons, who were sentenced to three years in jail for rioting in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, on the plea of victims' families challenging the trial court verdict acquitting them of murder charges.
The remarks reflect the "arrogance" of the Congress, he said addressing a poll rally on the last day of campaigning for the sixth phase in Haryana's Rohtak.