Court records statement of victim's wife against Tytler

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday concluded recording the statement of the wife of a victim in north Delhi's Pul Bangash Gurdwara case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.

Special Judge Jitendra Singh recorded the statement of Lakhwinder Kaur, wife of Badal Singh, who was one of the three men killed by a mob that torched the Gurdwara during the riots. In her statement, Kaur said an eyewitness told her that Tytler had come to the place of the incident in a vehicle and incited a mob. Kaur told the court that she met Surender Singh, who worked as a Granthi in the Gurdwara in 2008, who described the incident to her.

"Surender Singh told me that he saw the incident from the roof of the Gurdwara. He told me that he saw my husband Badal Singh exiting from the Gurdwara and saw him being attacked by a mob who took out the kirpan of my husband and stabbed him to death using the same.

"He also told me that Tytler had come to the place of the incident in a vehicle and he had gathered everyone," she told the court. She added that Surender Singh told her that the mob engaged in violence upon the incitement of Tytler and her husband's body was put in a cart after he was killed and burnt by placing burning tyres on top of him. She, thereafter, approached the court for investigation, Kaur said.

The judge will resume the hearing on November 23, when he is likely to record the statement of another victim, Manmohan Kaur. Tytler, who was not arrested in the case, is currently on bail. A sessions court had in August last year granted him anticipatory bail in the case. On August 30 this year, the court ordered the framing of charges against Tytler (80) under sections 302 (murder), 109 (abetment), 147 (rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 143 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in relation to the case, saying there was sufficient ground to proceed against the accused.

The judge framed the charges on September 13 after Tytler pleaded not guilty to the offences.