‘Butcher of Trilokpuri’ set free; AIISF rushes to court
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A day after the media reported that Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Tejendra Khanna has commuted the life sentence of Kishori Lal (48), convicted of multiple murders in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) announced to file a PIL before Delhi High Court challenging the move.
Khanna, acting on the recommendations of the state Sentence Review Board (SRB), recently commuted the sentence of Lal, who had earned the sobriquet Butcher of Trilokpuri after he allegedly killed several people, and 14 other life convicts.
Karnail Singh Peermohammad, president, AISSF, said that commuting Lal's sentence would amount to another injustice to the victims of 1984 Sikh massacre. "The PIL will be based on the ground that commutation and release of such a hardened criminal, who murdered several Sikhs including three brothers Darshan Singh, Amar Singh and Nirmal Singh, by cutting them into pieces with his hatchet, will pose a threat to the safety of the witnesses who testified against him," Peermohammad said.
"Commuting the sentence of Kishori Lal who murdered several sikhs in cold blood would amount to another injustice to the victims of November 1984 Sikh massacre. Kishori Lal's sentence is commuted at time when victims of November 1984 are fighting against the Clean Chit given to Jagdish Tytler and are trying to get Sajjan Kumar convicted," remarked Peermohammad.
In a statement issued from California (USA), Mohinder Singh who allegdly saw his father Darshan Singh a resident of Trilokpuri, being killed by Kishori Lal, said, "Commutation of Lal's sentence is bitter injustice and it has brought back the tormenting memory of how my father was butchered. We are fighting to get justice for the last 27 years and with this decision, we have lost all faith that victims of 1984 riots will ever get justice in India."