New Delhi: Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar has been convicted by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court docket in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, practically 40 years after the violence shook the nation. Particular Choose Kaveri Baweja handed the decision on Wednesday, convicting Kumar for the homicide of a Sikh father-son duo, Jaswant Singh and Tarundeep Singh, who had been killed within the Saraswati Vihar space of Delhi on November 1, 1984.
Kumar, who was already serving a life sentence in one other anti-Sikh riots case from the Delhi Cantt space, was produced earlier than the court docket from Tihar Jail for the pronouncement of the decision. The court docket has scheduled arguments on sentencing for February 18.
What Occurred on November 1, 1984?
Based on the prosecution, an armed mob carried out large-scale looting, arson, and assaults on Sikhs throughout Delhi within the aftermath of the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. The mob focused the Sikh neighborhood, burning houses and companies.
Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh had been killed in Saraswati Vihar, their home was looted and set ablaze. The court docket order held Sajjan Kumar accountable for not simply collaborating within the violence but in addition main the mob.
“The court docket discovered adequate materials to type a prima facie opinion that he was not only a participant however had additionally led the mob,” the judgment said.
Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Administration Committee (DSGMC) common secretary Jagdip Singh Kahlon welcomed the court docket’s ruling and known as it a step in direction of justice.
“Sajjan Kumar, who led the Sikh bloodbath 40 years in the past, has been convicted. I thank the court docket for this determination. I additionally thank PM Modi and Dwelling Minister Amit Shah for forming an SIT to reinvestigate closed instances. This conviction is a results of that effort. We hope to get justice within the Jagdish Tytler case as nicely,” Kahlon mentioned.
In the course of the trial, protection lawyer Anil Sharma argued that Sajjan Kumar’s identify was not included within the unique case file. He additionally identified that Kumar’s conviction in one other 1984 riots case, which was upheld by the Delhi Excessive Court docket in 2018, is at the moment below enchantment earlier than the Supreme Court docket.
Then again, Extra Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat rebutted this declare, stating that the sufferer initially didn’t know who Kumar was however later recognized him by identify in her assertion.
Senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, who has lengthy represented riot victims, argued that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots weren’t a sequence of remoted incidents however half of a bigger, well-organized bloodbath. He cited official figures stating that 2,700 Sikhs had been killed in Delhi alone.
Who’s Sajjan Kumar?
Sajjan Kumar was a Congress chief and former Member of Parliament. His political profession started in 1977 when he was elected to the Municipal Company of Delhi. He later turned a Delhi Councillor and received the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Outer Delhi.
Following Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards, a number of witnesses accused Sajjan Kumar of inciting mobs to assault Sikh houses and companies. Survivors testified that he led violent mobs and inspired assaults on the Sikh neighborhood.
In 2018, the Delhi Excessive Court docket convicted Kumar in one other 1984 riots case and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He has been serving that sentence in Tihar Jail ever since.
