Justice M.L. Jain

Justice M.L. Jain was a retired judge of the Delhi High Court who, in 1987, was named to the first committee set up to find out why so few cases of the November 1984 killings of Sikhs in Delhi had been properly registered and investigated. The Delhi High Court's own profile of Justice Mangi Lal Jain, who appears to be the same man, says he was born on 22 July 1922, was transferred to the Delhi High Court on 24 July 1978 and retired on 22 July 1984.

The Misra Commission had recommended a committee of one judicial and one administrative officer, appointed with "full authority to look into the papers and give such directions to the prosecuting agency" as each case warranted. The Delhi Administration named Justice Jain and E.N. Renison, a retired IPS officer, by a notification of 23 February 1987. Renison was later replaced by A.K. Banerji, another retired IPS officer, and the body became known as the Jain-Banerjee Committee. It was to examine whether offences committed in Delhi between 31 October and 7 November 1984 had gone unregistered or been badly investigated, and to recommend the registration of cases, in six months.

Key moments

• 23 February 1987: the committee is appointed.
• 14 October 1987: on the strength of an affidavit by Anwar Kaur, a Sultanpuri widow, the committee wrote to the Additional Commissioner of Police that it disclosed cognizable offences against Sajjan Kumar, Nathu Pardhan, Brahma Nand Gupta and others, and asked for cases to be registered at Sultanpuri police station.
• 24 November 1987: on a writ petition by Brahma Nand Gupta and others, the Delhi High Court stopped Justice Jain and Banerji from recommending the registration of fresh cases. The committee's work, in the words of the Jain-Aggarwal Committee's report, "virtually came to a stand-still".
• 4 October 1989: the High Court's final judgment struck down the notification that had set the committee up.
• 22 March 1990: the Delhi Administration appointed a fresh committee under Justice P. Subramanian Poti in its place.

As the Poti Committee summarised the judgment of 4 October 1989, the powers given to the committee could not have been conferred under law, because a body not entitled to investigate cannot be given the power to direct an investigation. It could, however, seek information through affidavits, though not accept fresh allegations against individuals made for the first time. The Delhi High Court recalled the episode in 2018.

He is not Justice J.D. Jain, who chaired the later Jain-Aggarwal Committee from November 1990.

What he is remembered for: his committee was the first of the bodies set up after the Misra Commission to look at unregistered cases. Ensaaf says its first recommendation was for a case against, among others, Sajjan Kumar and Brahmanand Gupta. A High Court order then froze its power to recommend fresh cases for almost two years.