It’s saddening that the criminal cases related to the Sikh massacre that followed the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 are still being dragged even after four decades. 2700 Sikhs were killed in this carnage in Delhi.According to the report of the G T Nanavati Commission, set up in 2005 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, 587 FIRs were registered in Delhi regarding the riot.While 241 of these have been filed as untraced, 253 ended in acquittal. Of the remaining, 40 FIRs are pending trial and one is pending investigation. Eleven FIRs have been quashed, and in 11 other FIRs, the accused have been discharged. Three cases have been withdrawn.To date, just 27 cases have ended in convictions. Of these, just 12 are convictions in murder cases.This is a classical example of denial of justice, when the entire system, transcending the political bars, unites to shield the culprits.