1984 anti-Sikh riots: Wife of victim in Pul Bangash Gurdwara case deposes against Jagdish Tytler

New Delhi: The wife of a victim in north Delhi’s Pul Bangash Gurdwara case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Thursday deposed before a Delhi court against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.

Special Judge Rakesh Syal recorded the statement of Lakhwinder Kaur, the wife of Badal Singh who was one of the three men killed by a mob that torched the Gurdwara during the riots.

In her statement, Kaur said an eyewitness told her that Tytler had come to the place of the incident in a vehicle and incited a mob.

Kaur told the court that she met Surender Singh Granthi, who worked as a Granthi in the Gurdwara in 2008, who described the incident to her.

"Surender Singh told me that he saw the incident from the roof of the Gurdwara. He told me that he saw my husband Badal Singh exiting from the Gurdwara and saw him being attacked by a mob who took out the kirpan of my husband and stabbed him to death using the same. He also told me that Tytler had come to the place of the incident in a vehicle and that he had gathered everyone,” she told the court.

She added that Surender Singh told her that the mob engaged in violence upon the incitement of Tytler and her husband's body was put in a cart after he was killed and burnt by placing burning tyres on top of him.

She, thereafter, approached the court for investigation, Kaur said.

Tytler's counsel opposed the deposition stating that the account of Granthi was hearsay and not admissible as evidence.

The court rejected this claim and adjourned the matter for October 15.

The judge had on August 30 ordered the framing of charges against Tytler (80) under sections of 302 (murder), 109 (abetment), 147 (rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 143 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in relation to the case, saying there was sufficient ground to proceed against the accused.

The judge framed the charges on September 13 after Tytler pleaded not guilty to the offences.

The CBI had on May 20, 2023 filed a charge sheet against Tytler in the case.

Tytler "incited, instigated and provoked the mob assembled at Pul Bangash Gurudwara Azad Market" on November 1, 1984 that resulted in burning down of the Gurdwara and killing of three Sikhs -- Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh -- the CBI alleged in its charge sheet.

The CBI had also said in its charge sheet that Tytler came out of a white Ambassador car in front of gurdwara on November 1, 1984 and instigated a mob by shouting "kill the Sikhs, they have killed our mother".

Anti-Sikh riots had erupted in several parts of the country in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

A sessions court had in August last year granted anticipatory bail to Tytler in the case.