Archive · 31 Jan 2026
Indira Gandhi Murder Case: High Court Rejects Plea
A long time ago, on January 31, 1986, two men named Kehar Singh and Balbir Singh were convicted for a very serious crime.
They asked the court to cancel their death sentence, but the court said no.
The judges found that the lower court made some mistakes when giving the sentence, but they didn't change the punishment.
Meanwhile, a political group called Akali Dal decided not to use force to remove militants from a holy place called the Golden Temple after the central government told them not to.
This happened because a previous attempt to do this had failed.
The Delhi High Court rejected the plea of Kehar Singh and Balbir Singh to quash their death sentence in the Indira Gandhi murder case.
The court found procedural errors in the sentencing but did not rule on their basis.
The ruling Akali Dal shelved its plan to use physical force to remove militants from the Golden Temple complex.
The directive to shelve the plan came from the Centre after a previous attempt to liberate the complex failed.
The first attempt to liberate the Golden Temple from militants on January 19 ended in a fiasco.
- Who
- Kehar Singh and Balbir Singh, convicts in the Indira Gandhi murder case
- What
- Delhi High Court rejected their plea to quash the death sentence
- When
- January 31, 1986
- Where
- Delhi High Court
- Why
- The court found procedural errors but did not rule on their basis
- Date
- January 31, 1986
- Convicts
- Kehar Singh and Balbir Singh
- Court
- Delhi High Court
- Judges
- Justice R N Aggarwal and Justice Malik Sharif-ud-Din
- CrPC
- Code of Criminal Procedure