Parliament should recognise the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that occurred after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguard as “genocide”, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Punjabi Academy vice-chairperson Jarnail Singh said on Tuesday.
Assembly resolution
In a statement released by the AAP, Mr. Singh, the former MLA of Rajouri Garden, said the Delhi Assembly had passed a resolution on June 30, 2015, recognising the 1984 riots as genocide.
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“In case the Narendra Modi government is serious in providing justice to the 1984 riots’ victims, it should immediately bring a Bill and get it passed in Parliament to define genocide and make legal provisions for punishing those involved in such heinous acts,” the statement read.
Referring to the Delhi High Court’s decision on Monday to award life sentence to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for his involvement in the riots, Mr. Singh said the Congress had rewarded Kumar by giving him Lok Sabha ticket in elections after 1984.
“On the other hand, the BJP government should not try to take the credit for the conviction of Sajjan Kumar, since the chargesheet in this case was filed in the 2010, that is four years before the Modi government came to power,” the statement said.
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He added that the special investigation team formed by the Centre in 2015 had recommended closing 232 out of 241 cases referred to it.