1984 Anti Sikh Riots Case Sajjan Kumar Sentenced Life Imprisonment

1984 Anti Sikh Riots Case Sajjan Kumar Sentenced Life Imprisonment

The Delhi High Court on Monday, December 17, 2018, convicted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti- Sikh riots case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The High court reversed the trial court’s acquittal and imposed fine of Rs 5 lakh on him. The court also directed Kumar to surrender before December 31 and asked not to leave Delhi before that.

Kumar, 73, had been previously acquitted by a lower court for his role in the riots, but the verdict was challenged by the country’s top investigative agency which said he had been involved in a conspiracy of “terrifying proportions” with the police.

A bench comprising of justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel convicted Kumar for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity and acts against communal harmony. The investigation was carried out by the CBI.

In a verdict, the Delhi high court said – “the accused evaded justice due to political patronage”

More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed following the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. They were angry at her decision to send the army into the Golden Temple (Sikhism’s holiest shrine) to flush out militants earlier in the year.

The killing of Mrs Gandhi, who belonged to the Congress, saw mobs attack and murder members of the Sikh community across the country. The worst violence took place in the capital, Delhi, where more than 2,700 Sikhs are believed to have died. However his lawyer told journalists that he would appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court.

There are number of cases against Kumar relating to the riots but, Monday’s verdict is specifically over the killing of a family of five in Delhi.

Victim Jagdish Kaur, whose son and husband were among five family members brutally killed, described the verdict as “a little balm applied after a long time to our scars”.

“At least one high-profile accused will now go to jail,” she said.