The case relates to the murder of five members of a family during the anti-Sikh riots in the Raj Nagar area in the Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday held Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others guilty in a 1984 anti-Sikh riot case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.The court asked Sajjan Kumar to surrender by December 31.
A bench comprising Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel delivered the verdict in the case related to the killing of five people in the Delhi Cantonment area following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
This is the first conviction of a senior Congress leader in the anti-Sikh riots case.This is a big victory for Jagdish Kaur, anti-Sikh riot victim, as the Delhi HC set aside previous acquittal of Sajjan Kumar.More than 3,000 Sikhs were brutally killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
In 2013, the trial court had convicted five others – former councillor Balwan Khokkar, former legislator Mahender Yadav, Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal – for their involvement in the case.Kishan Khokkar and former legislator Mahender Yadav have been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also filed an appeal, alleging they were engaged in “a planned communal riot” and “religious cleansing”.The case against Kumar was registered in 2005 based on the findings of the justice G.T. Nanavati Commission.
