New Delhi: A court here on Friday ordered the framing of charges for murder and other offences against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a case related to the alleged murder of three people in north Delhi's Pul Bangash area during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Special CBI judge Rakesh Siyal said there was sufficient evidence against Tytler to put him on trial.
"Sufficient ground is there to proceed against the accused person," the judge said. A witness had earlier submitted in the chargesheet that Tytler came out of a white Ambassador car in front of the Gurdwara Pul Bangash on November 1, 1984, and instigated a mob by saying "Kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother," following which three people were killed.
Advocate Manu Sharma, who represented Tytler in the court, argued, "The CBI had filed a closure report. A chargesheet was filed against co-accused Suresh Kumar Panewala, but the trial court had acquitted him. Not a single witness came from 1984 to 2023 and so we cannot believe the witnesses who have come after such a long time. And so I demand that my client Jagdish Tytler should be acquitted"
The court ordered the framing of charges for several offences, including unlawful assembly, rioting, promoting enmity between different groups, house trespass and theft under sections 147, 149, 153A, 188, 109, 295, 380 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court has listed the matter for September 13 for formally framing the charges.
