By Rohini Sridharan
Delhi HC has ordered for a retrial of 1984’s Anti-Sikh riots, concerning the death of Ghaziabad Raj nagar’s then resident Harbhajan Singh, stating that the previous trials were conducted in a “hasty manner”. The court also criticised the investigatory body CBI for its failure in proper investigation.
During 1984 when then Prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated, there were a series of Anti-Sikh riots. On November 1 Harbhajan Singh, a resident of Raj Nagar of Ghaziabad was attacked by a group of men and was set ablaze, said his wife. A series of trials were held during 1986, which stated that there were contradictions in statements from his wife and there was a delay in filing of the case. Thus, it acquitted the four accused. A bench consisting of Justices
Subramaniam Prasad and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar, on August 11, 2025 examined the case and declared that it felt rushed in trials as well as investigation in the first glance of the case.
This verdict criticised the investigatory body CBI heavily. The high court has indicated the disappointment and the injustice that CBI has brought into this case via its improper investigation and lack of providence of evidence.CBI also failed to even procure the evidence of the corpse, the bench added . This is another indicator of CBI’s inability to procure proper evidence in order to run a proper investigation process, which will in turn lead to justice in trial
The High Court said that even after a long time, this case still stands as an exceptional case and thus requires a reinvestigation and retrial also due to its nature. It also added that according to Article 21, this is a right of the family for a retrial and reinvestigation in order to serve justice. The court is firm with its decision to conduct a retrial in order to restore justice and hope on the legal system of India among its citizens.