Prosecution in 1984 riots not just for sake of it: SC

Filing appeals against acquittal in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots should be done "seriously" and not as a "formality", the Supreme Court said on Monday as it asked the Centre whether any efforts are being made to engage senior, experienced lawyers to seek reopening of the cases that had ended in acquittal.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

A bench headed by Justice Abhay S Oka said, "You (Centre) must tell us whether any senior counsel will be engaged to argue these cases," as it went through the latest status report filed by the Anti-Riots Cell of the Delhi Police informing the court about its decision to file appeals in the top court against six orders of acquittals passed by the Delhi high court. "This has to be done seriously and not just for the sake of it," said the bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, on going through the report presented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati.

She said, "In one matter which I am handling, the difficulty faced is the absence of evidence. The SIT under former Delhi high court judge (Justice SN Dhingra) submitted its report in April 2019 seeking fresh appeals to be filed in eight cases. The question is of evidence."