New Delhi:
It's an old ghost come back to haunt. Dozens of Sikh protesters today picketed Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's house in the Capital protesting that the death sentence awarded to a 1984 anti-Sikh riots convict had been commuted to a life sentence.
Only yesterday, Delhi's Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna took note of protests and reversed a decision that he had taken earlier this month to release Kishori Lal, a former butcher who was accused of stabbing to death several people in Trilokpuri, an East Delhi locality that saw some of the worst rioting in 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Kishori Lal, now 48, has been in jail since 1996. During trial he earned the epithet - Butcher of Trilokpuri. Kishori Lal was awarded the death sentence in at least five cases by lower courts. The Supreme Court later commuted these to life terms.
Last year, after he had been in jail for 15 years, Tihar Jail authorities recommended that Kishori Lal's case be reviewed by a state panel for release on grounds of good conduct and as he fulfilled certain other criteria for release. The panel sent the file to Mr Khanna and the Lt Governor gave approval to commute the rest of the life sentence and release Kishori Lal early.
This sparked instant outrage in a section of the Sikh community in Delhi, which protested against the L-Gs decision, prompting him to reverse it yesterday. Not enough though, say the protesters now. They now want the earlier Supreme Court decision to commute Kishori Lal's death sentence to a life term to also be reviewed.
(With PTI inputs)