Delhi court directs framing of charges against Congress' Jagdish Tytler in anti-Sikh riots case

The case had been registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Formal charges - unlawful assembly, rioting, disobedience to order, defiling a place of worship, abetment), mischief by fire, and theft, apart from murder and intent to cause a riot - will be framed against him on Sept 13, when Tytler will be present to enter a plea - either 'guilty' or 'not guilty'.

The CBI, in a chargesheet filed in May last year, had accused Tytler, a former Union Minister, of "inciting, instigating and provoking the mob" assembled near the gurdwara in November 1984.

"Tytler provoked the mob to kill Sikhs which resulted in Gurudwara Pul Bangash being set on fire by the mob and killing of three persons..." the CBI had said.

One witness claimed to have seen a mob carrying petrol canisters, sticks, swords, and rods, with Tytler, then a Member of Parliament, in front of the gurdwara.

Others claimed to have seen him emerge from a car, a white Ambassador, and exhort the gathered mob to carry out his "instructions".

Tytler, however, has insisted there is not a "single (piece of) evidence" against him.

"What have I done? If there is evidence against me I'm prepared to hang myself... It wasn't related to 1984 riots case for which they (the CBI) wanted my voice sample..." he had said in August last year.

In May 2022 Tytler said, "I will apologise as it (the riots) happened in our time. I would apologise a thousand times for what happened to the Sikhs... I would say it was shameful."

The assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, by her Sikh bodyguards, in 1984 after her controversial 'Operation Blue Star', led to violent riots. Tytler got a clean chit from the CBI on three previous occasions, but after the last the court directed the agency to investigate further.

Jagdish Tytler has long been a point of attack for the Congress' rivals, including, in the past, current allies Aam Aadmi Party. The party has been accused of shielding its accused leaders.

In 2012 Congress veteran Manmohan Singh, then the Prime Minister, apologised to Members of Parliament and the countrymen for the riots that killed thousands. "I have no hesitation in apologising to not only the Sikhs... but also the nation. I bow my head in shame that such a thing happened," he had said.

Subsequently, the party's senior leaders, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi also apologised and expressed regret.

Tytler, 80, once a key Congress leader in Delhi, was also named in a report by the Nanavati Commission. His case was one of the three the panel recommended in 2005  be reopened by the CBI.

Tytler is out on bail granted by a sessions court on a bond and surety of Rs. 1 lakh each. That court had also imposed certain conditions on him, including guarantees that he will not tamper with the evidence or leave the country without permission.