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1984 riots witness moves High Court

Staff Reporter

Seeks quashing of notice by CBI

Petition may be heard on Monday
“Direct CBI not to take further action”

NEW DELHI: Jasbir Singh, who claims to be an eyewitness in an anti-Sikh riots case here in 1984 in which former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler is an accused, moved the Delhi High Court on Friday seeking quashing of a notice issued to him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for recording of his evidence in the case.

The petition is likely to come up for hearing this coming Monday. The witness is at present in the United States. He filed the petition through his lawyer Sharad Kapoor.

He submitted that the investigating agency had issued the notice under an inappropriate provision of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The CBI had issued the notice under Section 160 of the CrPC which is meant for recording of statement of a witness staying in the country.

For a witness staying abroad, the relevant section under which a witness could be summoned for recording of his or her statement is 166A, the petition said.

The witness urged the Court to quash the notice issued under Section 160 of the CrPC and direct the investigating agency to issue a fresh notice Section 166A.

He also urged the Court to direct the investigating agency not to take any further action which could affect the case adversely. The CBI had filed a closure report last year in a trial here seeking permission to close the case saying that the witness was not traceable.

Jasbir Singh had reportedly claimed before the Justice Nanavati Commission that he had seen Jagdish Tytler inciting a mob during the riots that had broken out following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

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