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Media and
a gritty witness shame India judiciary to act
CBI's bid to let Jagdish Tytler
off the hook thwarted by court
WSN Bureau
NEW DELHI: Shame
came haunting the Indian justice dispensing system in which the
rulers, the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary had clearly
conspired for years to deny justice to the victims of the 1984
anti-Sikh pogrom, the worst genocide witnessed in South Asia in
contemporary history. So much so that one of the key accused rose to
become a federal minister even before he could be cleared by the
courts.
And then came the final assault on senses. Even as a
government-appointed probe commission indicted minister Jagdish
Tytler and he had to resign in the wake of a crescendo against him
by the civil society, India's top sleuthing agency, the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an affidavit in the court that a
key witness against Tytler, one Jasbir Singh, was "untraceable" and
therefore the case be closed.
The fact leaked out and in no time many media organisations were
able to reach across to Jasbir Singh in California with little
effort. Activist advocate H S Phoolka's timely book "When A Tree
Shook Delhi" also upped the pressure and the Delhi court hearing the
matter was forced to tell the CBI in no ncertain
terms on
 Tuesday
to reinvestigate the pogrom in 1984, particularly the role of the
former union minister.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjiv Jain directed the CBI to record
the statement of witness Jasbir Singh, who is currently in the US
and submit a report by January 16, 2008. "I am of the opinion that
the matter needs to be further investigated," Jain said after
Jasbir's counsel Navkiran Singh submitted that the witness was
willing to join the investigation.
The genocide in New
Delhi was among India's bloodiest in modern times, but what had left
the world shocked was the systematic way in which it was carrie dout
as mobs moved with voter lists in hand, identifying Sikhs' houses
and establishments.
Jagdish Tytler is
accused to personally leading blood-thirsty mobs and Jasbir Singh as
witness had stated how he saw and heard Tytler admonishing a group
about the low number of deaths of Sikhs in his area. Tytler,
implicated by two judicial commissions, has denied the charge. The
 CBI
in September this year had asked that Tytler be exonerated of all
charges.
The witness, Jasbir
Singh, revealed that CBI did not contact him despite being aware of
his whereabouts. The court has now asked the CBI to file a report on
January 16 next. The ruling came on a petition by the “November-84
Carnage Justice Committee.” Jasbir Singh had throuighout maintained
that he was to testify, but expressed his inability to come to India
in view of the continuing threat to him and his family members.
It is not clear what
prevents the CBI from sending a couple of officers to the US to
record the witness' testomony or why can't he be permitted to visit
the Indian consulate and submit his testimony through video
conference. The CBI is insisting on his physical presence in the
court for the purpose.
The case against
Tytler, in which the CBI sought to give him a clean chit, was
registered in 2005 in connection with the killing of three persons
of a Sikh family by a mob in North Delhi on November 1, 1984. It is
alleged that Tytler incited the mob.
 Among
those who had put in a lot of hardwork to make sure that Tytler does
not escape the law were AISSF President Karnail Singh Peermohammad
and Co-ordination Committee – “Sikhs For Justice".
Gurpatwant Singh
Pannun, a New York based attorney who is representing Jasbir Singh
said the CBI has time till January 14 to record the statement of
Jasbir Singh. He said the CBI can do that either at the Indian
Embassy in US or at his law firm’s office in California.
Navkiran Singh, the
attorney who represents Jasbir Singh before court in Delhi also
suggested to the court that CBI can record Jasbir Singh’s statement
through video conferencing and the court also asked the CBI to
explore the possibility of recording Jasbir Singh’s statement
through video conferencing. Jasbir Singh has said he stood by his
indictment of Jagdish Tytler.
19 December, 2007
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