Timeline of the anti-Sikh riots cases of 1984

New Delhi: With a journalist of good standing having flung a shoe at the Home Minister, the trigger of the act has been brought to the fore.

Jarnail Singh, a Sikh by faith, and a journalist with Dainik Jagran was agitated that the Congress had no satisfactory replies to the massacre of Sikhs in anti-Sikh riots in 1984.

That makes people wonder about what were the facts surrounding the court cases that dealt with the issue of the riots that happened over 25 years ago.

• Around 3,000 Sikhs were reportedly killed in communal riots in November 1984.
• After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, it was alleged that Congress leader Jagdish Tytler provoked public fury against the Sikh community.
• On September 29, 2007, the CBI filed a closure report regarding Jagdish Tytler's role in the riots. It stated witness Jasbir Singh could not be traced and another witness, Surender Singh, refused to record his statement.
• On December 18, 2007, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjiv Jain ordered the CBI to re-investigate Tytler's role in the riots and record statements of key witness Jasbir Singh
• In December 2008, a two member CBI team was sent to New York to record the statements of two eyewitnesses, Jasbir Singh and Surinder Singh. The two witnesses have stated that they saw Jagdish Tytler lead a mob during the riots, but did not want to come to India as they feared for their security. They also blamed the CBI for not conducting a fair trial and accused it of protecting Tytler.
• However, in March 2009, CBI gave a clean chit to Tytler, amidst protests from Sikhs and the opposition parties.