 is sufficient for the court to form a prima facie opinion that a mob of thousands armed with deadly weapons was there to resort to large scale looting, arson, or destruction of property of Sikhs.){kind=link}
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court has ordered the framing of murder charges against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a case registered in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar police station during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Special Judge M.K. Nagpal observed that the oral and documentary evidence collected by the IO(s) during the course of the investigation of the case is sufficient to make the court to form a prima facie opinion that a mob of several thousand persons armed with deadly weapons like danda and iron rods etc. was there on the incident date with an object to resort to large scale looting, arson or destruction of property of Sikhs to avenge the killing of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.
Further the Court finds sufficient material on record to form a prima facie opinion that Sajjan Kumar was not only a participant of the said mob, but also leading it. It is so because the facts as narrated in the charge sheet and as revealed from the documents enclosed therewith do not lead to a situation where two views are equally possible before the court regarding involvement of accused in the said incident and rather, the view regarding his participation in the said incident is much more stronger and these allegations and material give rise to a grave suspicion against the accused about his involvement in commission of the alleged offences and not a mere suspicion regarding his involvement in the said incident.
But for alleged offences U/Ss 307 and 201 IPC are concerned, the court fails to find on record any sufficient or prima facie material to show disappearance or destruction etc. of any evidence of commission of alleged offences by the accused or by any other member of the mob with an intent to conceal the offence or screen the offenders.
Still, the court finds sufficient material on record to frame charge against the accused for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and punishable U/S 308 IPC, instead of Section 307 IPC , as the medical documents of the female victims/injured of the case, which are of the relevant period when injuries were suffered by them, as well as the connected statements of the doctors on record show that apart from the other injuries, they also suffered deep injuries on their heads.
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“Therefore, in view of the above, this court is of the considered opinion that a prima facie case is made out against the accused for framing of charge against him for commission of the offences punishable U/Ss 147/ 148/149 IPC as well as the offences punishable U/Ss 302/308/ 323/395/397/427/436/440 read with Section 149 IPC. Charges are accordingly directed to be framed against him for the said offences,”
-the Rouse Avenue Court order reads.
The case relates to the killing of S. Jaswant Singh and his son S. Tarun Deep Singh residing in Raj Nagar in West Delhi by an unruly mob. It has been alleged that Sajjan Kumar was leading the said mob and upon his instigation and abetment, the mob had burnt alive the above two persons. The mob also damaged, destroyed and looted their household articles, set fire to their house and inflicted severe injuries on their family members and relatives. The above incident is said to have taken place in the evening of November 1, 1984.
On completion of the investigation, one final report is also stated to have been filed earlier in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) concerned and the case was directed to be sent as untraced vide order dated 08.07.1994 passed by the MM as he was of the view that evidence collected by the IO was not sufficient to initiate prosecution against any particular person. However, the case was sent as untraced only till any substantial evidence came to light. Thereafter, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) vide its order dated February 12, 2015 constituted an SIT for investigating/re-investigating cases of 1984 riots.
It is alleged that a public notice was published on 11.11.2016 in various leading newspapers in Punjab and Delhi requesting all concerned or acquainted with facts of the present case to give evidence or depose about the same before the SIT to facilitate further investigation of the case and details of the case were also uploaded on the website of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to give it wider publicity.
Later Sajjan Kumar was interrogated and formally arrested in this case on 06.04.2021, while he was confined in Tihar Jail in some other case. Thus, on conclusion of further investigation, a charge sheet for the commission of the above said offences punishable U/S 147/148/149/302/ 307/326/395/397/ 427/436/440/201 IPC has been filed against the accused.