India to reopen 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases

India is soon going to reopen some of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases in which over 3,000 members of the minority community were killed, sources said Monday.

"For the time being, at 75 cases of anti-Sikh riots in the national capital will be reopened by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), appointed by the Indian government in 2015," the sources said.

The decision to reopen the cases came in the wake of Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the SIT has failed to reopen even a single case.

"I urge you to either get your SIT to do something or kindly wind up this SIT and allow the Delhi government to set up an SIT for a proper investigation and get justice for victims," Kejriwal wrote.

The riots had culminated across the country, following India's first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

Gandhi's killing at her official residence was triggered in response to her actions authorizing military operation at the holiest shrine of the Sikhs in the northern city of Amritsar.

Delhi had accounted for most deaths in the massacre, said to be led by members of the country's then ruling and now main opposition Congress party.

It has been 32 years since the riots and 10 special panels have been formed, but so far no one has been prosecuted, despite the known involvement of some leaders of Congress party. Endit