Delhi Assembly passes resolution demanding Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna be withdrawn over 1984 riots
New Delhi, Dec 21: The Delhi Assembly Friday passed a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, from former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, alleging that he justified the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of his mother and the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The Delhi government should “strongly” convey in writing to the Union Home Ministry (MHA) that justice continues to elude the families and near-dear ones of the victims of the worst “genocide” in the history of India’s national capital, the resolution said.
Gandhi was conferred with the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1991.
Previously, the BJP had also demanded that Gandhi be stripped off the award over his statements on the assassination of Indira Gandhi, which triggered the riots in 1984. In his first speech after the riots, Gandhi had said: “Whenever a big tree falls, the earth shakes”.
Earlier, senior Supreme Court advocate HS Phoolka had also said the Centre should withdraw the Bharat Ratna conferred on Gandhi as “he justified anti-Sikh 1984 riots,” adding that “such a PM doesn’t deserve to be given Bharat Ratna.”
Reversing a trial court order in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was convicted and sentenced to life by the Delhi High Court on Monday. Former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others were also held guilty in the case relating to the murder of five members of a Sikh family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984.
The court, while sentencing Kumar, had noted: “The criminals responsible for the mass crimes have enjoyed political patronage and managed to evade prosecution and punishment.”
In November, the Patiala House Court in Delhi awarded death sentence to Yashpal Singh and handed another convict Naresh Sherawat life imprisonment for their role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots. This was the first conviction in five of the eight cases that were reopened and investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was constituted in 2015.
While the Congress party has denied any role in the rampage, former prime minister Manmohan Singh recounted the remorse for the killings in a speech in the Parliament in 2005.
“I have no hesitation in apologising to the Sikh community (for the 1984 carnage)”, Singh had declared in the Rajya Sabha in response to an Opposition-sponsored motion demanding that the prime minister seek forgiveness from the country for the riots.
Delhi Assembly passes a resolution urging the Centre to take back India's highest civilian award 'Bharat Ratna' from late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, alleging that he "justified" the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. @IndianExpress
— Sourav Roy Barman (@Sourav_RB) December 21, 2018
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
