A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment for the murder of a father-son duo during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The order was passed by Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts.
Rejecting the prosecution and the complainant’s prayer seeking death penalty for Kumar, the special court observed that while the offences committed by Kumar were brutal and reprehensible, certain mitigating factors weighed in favour of imposing a lesser sentence, instead of death penalty, to the accused.
Special Judge Baweja took note of the ailments which the convict was reportedly suffering from and the ‘satisfactory’ conduct of the convict as per the report of the Jail authorities.
Considering the fact that the convict had roots in the society, the possibility of his reformation and rehabilitation tilted the scales in favour of sentence for life imprisonment instead of death penalty, noted the judge.
On February 12, 2025, the Rouse Avenue Courts had convicted the Congress leader in the cae related to the murder of a father-son duo during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Kumar was convicted for offences under Sections 302 (murder),147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 308 ( attempt to culpable homicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 395 (dacoity), apart from other charges framed against the Congress leader in 2021.
Prosecution alleged that on November 1, 1984, a mob of more than 1,000 people, led by Kumar, killed S Jaswant Singh and his son S Tarun Deep Singh, residents of Raj Nagar in West Delhi, during the anti-Sikh riots.
A complainant, whose identity was concealed, had submitted an affidavit on September 9, 1985, on the basis of which a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Kumar.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2015 to reinvestigate the cases of 1984 riots, following which the complainant recorded her statement on November 23, 2016.
Kumar was arrested on April 6, 2021, while he was undergoing life imprisonment at Tihar Jail in another case related to the 1984 riots.
The prosecution alleged that the former Congress leader, instigated the unlawful assembly of more than 1,000 people to indulge in large-scale looting, arson and rioting.