The Supreme Court today ordered the constitution of a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to relook 186 cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination.

The new SIT, which the apex court said will be headed by a retired high court judge and include one serving and one retired IPS officer, will examine whether any of these 186 cases merit reopening.

The Supreme Court's action comes after a supervisory committee of retired justices KPS Radhakrishnan and JM Panchal submitted a report saying that out of the 293 cases from the anti-Sikh riots, 186 cases were closed by the original SIT without investigation.

The new SIT will re-examine these 186 cases and give recommendations on whether they can be reopened and whether a chargesheet can be filed.

1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Supreme Court to pass orders on Thursday regarding names of retired and serving IPS officers who could be included in the three-member committee, for re-investigation of the 186 cases. - ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2018

In September last year, the Supreme Court had set up the Radhakrishnan-Panchal panel to examine the decision of the original SIT to close 199 cases relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The panel was asked to examine whether the original SIT's decision to close these cases was justified. The original SIT in question was appointed by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in February, 2015.

It was headed by IPS officer Pramod Asthana, while the other members were ex-district judge Rakesh Kapoor and a police officer Kumar Gyanes.

The anti-Sikh riots had broken out after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. She was killed by two of her bodyguards - both Sikhs - over her decision to allow the Indian Army to storm the Golden Temple in Amritsar in order to flush out militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

The anti-Sikh riots, which continued for three days after Gandhi's death, rocked the country and have dominated India's mainstream discourse for years. The riots had claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people.

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