Badals hail death penalty, lifer to anti-Sikh riots accused

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also on Tuesday welcomed the Delhi court's decision in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday welcomed the judgment of a Delhi court sentencing one of the killers of innocent Sikhs in November 1984 to death and sentencing another to life imprisonment.

"This is the first blow in favour of justice and the judgment is proof of what a change in government at the Centre can achieve in securing justice for thousands of innocent Sikhs as these cases had been closed by the previous Congress government at the Centre and had been reopened only when the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered these to be reopened at the behest of the SAD," said former Chief Minister Badal in a statement.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also on Tuesday welcomed the Delhi court¿s decision in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The court pronounced death penalty to one accused Yashpal Singh and awarded life imprisonment to another accused Naresh Sehrawat. Speaking to ANI, Singh said, "I welcome this judgment by the court and hope that now the other eight pending cases are also taken up by the courts and disposed of without any further delay."

A Delhi court on Tuesday pronounced death penalty to Yashpal Singh and life imprisonment to Naresh Sehrawat for killing two Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The court also slapped Rs 35 lakh fine on each of them.

Badal further said, ¿I hope this is just the stepping stone and this will lead to the delivery justice to thousands of other innocent victims. For the first time, I see a hope that the long arm of law and justice will reach powerful people like Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar."

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described the judgment "as the first really positive development in the past nearly 34 years" and said that "the Sikh community will feel some relief and confidence that they can get justice in this country.

Sukhbir Singh further said in the statement that this judgment should become a precedent for similar cases being tried after the NDA government had ordered the reopening of the cases closed by the successive Congress government.

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