Ludhiana, May 5 (ANI): Scores of protesters halted passenger trains in Ludhiana on Sunday to express their anger over a recent court order acquitting ruling Congress Party politician, Sajjan Kumar of rioting and murder charges during the 1984 anti-Sikh communal riots.
The protestors said that those responsible for murder of scores of Sikhs in 1984 are roaming freely.
Protestors showed their discontent over the court's verdict, by stopping trains from running and shoutting slogans against the ruling Congress party.
Irate protestors stood on the train's engine and sat on railway tracks demanding justice for the riot victims. They also demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation for being unable to provide either justice or safety to the country's minority.
A Delhi court on April 30 acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and convicted five other accused of charges including rioting and murder.
The pronouncement of the judgment reportedly caused huge uproar in the court with a protester hurling a shoe at the judge who acquitted Kumar.
The other five convicted persons in the case were taken into police custody and the next hearing on May 06 would decide on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to them.
Sajjan Kumar has to appear in another court hearing as well in one more rioting case whereas the third case filed against him for rioting has been closed by the federal probe agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for lack of evidence.
The demand to deliver a judgement against Sajjan Kumar and another co-accused Jagdish Tytler in the riot cases gained momentum after the Delhi Court on April 10 set aside closure report CBI on former Congress lawmaker Tytler, and ordered the reopening of the case against him in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
During the arguments on April 2, the CBI prosecutor had sought the dismissal of the plea filed by the victim, saying the probe has made it clear that Tytler was not present on November 1, 1984 at Gurudwara Pulbangash where three people were killed during the riots.
Tytler and Kumar are among the three prominent leaders named in the reports on the anti-Sikh riots. The third main accused in the rioting cases was another Congress party leader Hari Krishan Lal Bhagat, who passed away a couple of years ago.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which claimed the lives of almost 3000 Sikhs, were triggered following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
They shot her dead as revenge against the Operation Blue Star conducted the holy shrine in Amritsar to flush out militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. (ANI)
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