The Supreme Court will hear former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s plea against his conviction in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case on January 14. Kumar is currently lodged in the Mandoli jail in Delhi where he was sent after his plea against the Delhi High Court order convicting him and sentencing him to life imprisonment was rejected on December 22.
He surrendered before the Karkardooma court in Delhi and the 73-year-old was immediately sent to jail.
Sajjan Kumar was convicted and sentenced to life by the Delhi High Court on December 17 in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Raj Nagar area. The case relates to killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II during that period.
In its judgment, the high court had noted that over 2,700 Sikhs were killed in the national capital during the 1984 riots which was indeed “carnage of unbelievable proportions”.
It had said the riots were a “crime against humanity” perpetrated by those who enjoyed “political patronage” and aided by an “indifferent” law enforcement agency.
The high court had set aside the trial court’s 2010 verdict which had acquitted Kumar in the case.
After his conviction in the case, Kumar had resigned from the Congress party.
—India Legal Bureau