In January 2018, the Supreme Court ordered a special investigation team (SIT) to examine whether a batch of 199 cases linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots—which had been closed in 2015 for want of evidence—could be re-investigated. The list of cases included 54 complaints that collectively accounted for 426 murders. Earlier this month, the Centre informed the apex court that it received the SIT report in October last year and has decided to accept all recommendations made by Justice (retired) S.N. Dhingra and IPS officer Abhishek Dular.

In the midst of a vitriolic campaign for the Delhi polls, the news of the central government accepting the SIT recommendations should have made headlines, especially for the fact that 2,700 Sikhs were killed in the national capital alone in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984. Yet, Gurlad Singh Kahlon, on whose plea the SIT was constituted, lawyers and activists fighting for justice for the survivors for the past 35 years and the headline-hungry media largely kept quiet. Barring Union minister...