Victims' Families Wept Openly In Court

A Canadian judge on Wednesday cleared two Sikhs from India on charges of murder and conspiracy in the bombing that destroyed an Air India flight off the Irish coast. The verdict ended a trial that had lasted 19 months.

"Oh my God. Oh my God," one of the victims' relatives cried to herself, according to Reuters, as many of the victims shed tears when the verdict was read.

Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were found not guilty in two separate bombings -- one of which is listed as history's deadliest single air disaster. All 329 people on board Air India Flight 182 from Canada to London were killed when a bomb blew it out of the sky on June 23rd, 1985. The other bomb exploded 54 minutes earlier at Tokyo's Narita airport, as the bag in which it was hidden was transferred to Air India Flight 301, killing two workers.

Prosecutors said Malik and Bagri were out for revenge after the 1984 storming of the Golden Temple in the Indian town of Amristar by Indian Army troops. The military operation left hundreds of Sikhs dead.

Neither of the suspects on trial were considered the masterminds behind the operation. That title, according to prosecutors, went to Talwinder Singh Parmar, a leading member of the Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa.

Malik and Bagri, both residents of western Canada, were arrested in October, 2000.

Several other names came up during the 19 month trial, which took place in an extra-secure courtroom especially built for the trial. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says its investigation into the bombings will remain active.

FMI: www.flight182.com