Politics First: 1984 riots' victims await justice (Part 1 of 2)
Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was on April 30 acquitted of all charges by a Delhi court in one of the three 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases, a verdict that evoked vociferous protests from victims' families, one of whom hurled a shoe at the judge. District and Sessions Judge J R Aryan let off Kumar in the 29-year-old case in which he was accused of murder and of instigating a riotous mob that killed five Sikhs in Delhi's cantonment area. Five others -- Balwan Khokkar, an ex-Councillor, Mahender Yadav, an ex-MLA, Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal -- were convicted for their involvement in the riots that broke out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. The victims of the 1984 riots feel betrayed by the court's verdict as they recount the pain and horror.