Air India bomber perjury trial postponed
09-03-2010
THE JURY in the perjury trial of the only person ever convicted in the
1985 Air India bombings was dismissed on Monday (8) with a new panel to be
chosen at a later date.
The jury in the case of Inderjit Singh Reyat (pictured), on trial for his
testimony against two men acquitted in the case, was dismissed before
any evidence was heard.
The reasons cannot be reported due to a publication ban.
Reyat was accused of lying 27 times at the trial of Ripudaman Singh
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted of murder and
conspiracy in 2005.
He was called as a Crown witness, but then claimed he could not
remember details of the 1985 bomb plot, nor the name of one of the men
involved, which led British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Ian
Josephson to call him "an unmitigated liar".
Widely regarded as the second worst airline attack, 329 passengers and
crew died when Air India Flight 182 en route from Canada exploded
mid-air off the coast of Ireland.
Two baggage handlers at Japan's Narita airport were also killed in the
blast of a second suitcase bomb tied to the plot.
Prosecutors argued that Canadian Sikh extremists had sought to bring
down Air India jets in retaliation for the Indian government's June
1984 attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism's holiest
shrine.
Reyat served more than 15 years in prison for manslaughter and making
the bombs responsible for both attacks.
He was released on bail in July 2008 to await trial for perjury.