New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday upheld the conviction of 70 out of the 89 people who were awarded five-year jail term by a trial court for rioting, burning houses and violation of curfew during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Of the remaining 19 people, 16 died during the pendency of their appeals against the trial court's August 27, 1996 decision. The appeals of the three others were dismissed after they fled, the high court noted in its judgement.
Justice R K Gauba, while dismissing the 22-year-old appeals, asked the convicts to surrender forthwith to serve their remaining prison terms for rioting, looting and burning houses in various residential blocks in Trilok Puri between October 31 and November 3 in 1984 after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. Around 3,000 people died during the anti-Sikh riots. The court noted that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were a "dark chapter".