Indian court hands death penalty over 1984 anti-Sikh riots

World
Europe

A court in India has sentenced a man to death over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that left nearly 3,000 people dead, following the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Yashpal Singh was earlier found guilty of killing two Sikh men in Delhi. Another man, Naresh Sherawat, was given life imprisonment.

The 1984 riots erupted just hours after Gandhi was killed by one of her Sikh bodyguards. The violence lasted three days when Sikhs were targeted in the capital and elsewhere.

The duo was convicted last week of killing Hardev Singh, 24, and Avtar Singh, 26.

According to The Hindu, Singh and Sherawat took out the victims, who were hiding inside a room, injured them with dangerous weapons with the intention to kill and threw them down from the first floor, causing their deaths.

Relatives of victims rejoiced after the judge read out the sentence, the first since 1996.

Amarinder Singh, Punjab's chief minister, welcomed the ruling in a Twitter post, saying that he hoped "others involved in the attacks are also soon brought to book for their horrendous and inhuman acts."

The twenty-million Sikhs constitute less than two percent of India's population of 1.25 billion.

(Cover photo: Indian Sikhs march during a protest against the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi, May 2, 2013. /VCG Photo)

(With inputs from agencies)