The Delhi High Court on December 17 convicted Sajjan Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Sajjan Kumar (Photo: Twitter | @GovindS92583595)
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on an appeal filed by former Congress leader, Sajjan Kumar challenging the Delhi High Court verdict convicting and sentencing him to life imprisonment for criminal conspiracy to commit murder in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Ashok Bhushan and Sanjay Krishan Kaul sought a response from the probe agency and posted the matter for hearing after six weeks.
Sajjan Kumar had on December 31 surrendered in Delhi’s Karkardooma Court and was sent to the Mandoli jail in east Delhi.
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Earlier on December 21, the high court had dismissed Sajjan Kumar’s plea which sought more time to surrender. Kumar had moved an application before the Delhi High Court seeking 30 days to surrender, saying he had to settle family affairs.
The Delhi High Court on December 17 convicted Sajjan Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, describing the mass killings as “crimes against humanity”.
The case relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II during that period.
Reversing the acquittal order of the trial court, the high court held him guilty of the crime and ordered him to surrender.
Besides Kumar, Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar were also sentenced to life imprisonment. Kishan Khokkar and former legislator Mahender Yadav were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The 1984 riots followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. Hundreds of innocent Sikhs were killed, mainly in Delhi.
According to reports, over 3000 people were killed in the riots in and outside Delhi.
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