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A Delhi court Tuesday awarded death penalty to convict Yashpal Singh and ordered life imprisonment to another, Naresh Sherawat, for killing of two men during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi leaving nearly 3,000 people dead. In the first verdict after the riots-related cases were reopened by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2015, the court held that Singh’s offence fell under the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty. The Delhi Police had closed this case in 1994 for want of evidence. The SIT is investigating nearly 60 cases related to the riots, while it has filed “untraced report” in 52 cases. The court also imposed fine of Rs 35 lakh each on both the convicts and directed payment of the fine amount as compensation to surviving family members of deceased Hardev Singh and Avtar Singh.
“People from only one community were targeted. It was genocide. The incidents had an international effect and it took 34 years to get justice. A signal should go to the society to deter them from committing such horrible crimes. This is rarest of rare case which calls for death penalty,” the SIT had said. However, the advocate for the convicts said that the attack was not deliberate or planned but a sudden flare up. The case was lodged on a complaint by victim Hardev’s brother Santokh Singh. The court held both the accused guilty under various sections including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 395 (dacoity) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the IPC.
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