1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Delhi magisterial court commits case against Jagdish Tytler to sessions court

New Delhi : A Delhi court on Monday said that offences against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the Pul Bangash killings during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots here, are exclusively triable by the sessions court and committed the file to Principal District and Sessions Judge of Rouse Avenue Court.

“Let the file be put up before Ld. Principal District & Sessions Judge cum-Special Judge (PC Act), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Rouse Avenue District Courts on September 19,” Additional Sessions Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vidhi Gupta Anand said.

Anand noted that record reveals that the charge sheet among other things has been filed under Section 302 (titled as Punishment for murder) and 436 (titled as Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and these offences are exclusively triable by the court of Sessions.

The court issued notice with regard to committal of matter to Public Prosecutor Amit Jindal for CBI, and directed Tytler to be present before the Sessions court on the set date for next hearing.

ACMM on Monday noted that Jindal has also provided a list of unrelied documents by the CBI to Tytler’s counsel. Anand retained a copy of the same on record. On the previous date of hearing, legible copies of dim/illegible documents listed by Tytler were provided by the CBI’s counsel to Tytler’s.

Jindal had, during the last hearing, also filed a copy of judgement passed by the Delhi High Court in a case titled 'Dheeraj Wadhawan vs. Central Bureau of Investigation' dated July 26, in support of his submissions.

Relying on the same case, the court said that since the copies of relied upon documents have already been provided to Tytler and a list of unrelied documents has also been provided, Section 207 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) stands duly complied with.

The court also granted liberty to Tytler to move necessary application before the Sessions court for seeking any further documents as deemed necessary.

On September 6, Anand had adjourned the hearing on Tytler’s application filed under Section 207 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking court records from the year 1984 till 2023. After Tytler’s counsel had sought adjournment stating that he had to rush to the high court to attend some other urgent matter, Anand allowed it in the interest of justice.

On August 29, the CBI had filed its reply before the court on Tytler’s application. Anand had noted that the counsel for CBI has supplied a copy of reply with copies of certain documents to Tytler's counsel.

Tytler's counsel had sought time for advancing submissions, stating that some time is required to go through the reply as well as the documents. The ACMM had on August 11 given 10 days to Tytler to review the documents provided by the CBI, including the charge sheet. Later on August 21, he adjourned the matter after the probe agency sought time to advance arguments on Tytler's application seeking certain documents.

The court had approved the request of Tytler's counsel, who initially asked for two weeks to go through the materials. Tytler had on August 10 filed a request with the court to be allowed to attend proceedings through video conferencing. The plea was presented in the court on the grounds of security concerns. Tytler's advocate had appealed for the court's authorisation for his client to participate remotely, citing a recent protest by the Sikh community during Tytler's in-person appearance on August 5.