New Delhi, December 21: The Delhi assembly on Friday passed a resolution asking the central government to strip former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi of the Bharat Ratna award over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. AAP MLA Jarnail Singh moved the resolution, which termed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The resolution was passed by a voice vote in the House.

The resolution said 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. In 1984, Sikhs were targeted in Delhi and some others parts of the country following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. 2002 Gujarat Riots, 1993 Mumbai Riots, 2013 Muzaffarnagar Riots Cited by Delhi HC in Verdict Convicting Sajjan Kumar in 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Case.

Rajiv Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party and the government following his mother’s demise, was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, in 1991. A former Congress MP, Sajjan Kumar was recently convicted in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He has quit the Congress following his conviction.

Besides passing the resolution, the House also directed the government to impress upon the MHA that it should take all important and necessary steps to specifically include crimes against humanity and genocide in India’s domestic criminal laws, as recommended by the Delhi High Court in its recent landmark judgment sentencing Sajjan Kumar and other convicts to life imprisonment.

"There has been a familiar pattern of mass killings in Mumbai in 1993, in Gujarat in 2002, in Kandhamal, Odisha in 2008, in Muzaffarnagar in U.P. in 2013 to name a few. Common to these mass crimes were the targeting of minorities and the attacks spearheaded by the dominant political actors being facilitated by the law enforcement agencies," the high court said while convicting Sajjan Kumar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 21, 2018 10:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).