Why haven t any of the cases involving H.K.L. Bhagat not resulted in convictions?
A. H.K.L. Bhagat, who was a minister in the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi Governments and whose east Delhi constituency was the worst affected in the carnage, figured as an accused in three murder cases. In the first two, he was issued arrest warrant in 1994-95 after two carnage widows, Satnami Kaur and Darshan Kaur, alleged in the court that Bhagat had instigated the murder of their husbands. But Satnami Kaur was subsequently pressured to withdraw her statement and thereby let Bhagat off the hook. Darshan Kaur withstood the pressure and, sticking by her statement, she identified Bhagat as an instigator of her husband s murder. The court however acquitted Bhagat on the ground that in a riot case, a conviction cannot be based on the deposition of a solitary witness. The police failed to produce other witnesses to corroborate Darshan Kaur s version. H.S. Phoolka filed an appeal against Bhagat s acquittal and the matter is still pending in the high court. The third case against Bhagat is
