The Supreme Court will hear former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case after the Diwali break. Court proceedings will resume on October 27, following the October 20 recess.
The Supreme Court announced it would hear former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s appeal against his conviction and life sentence in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case after the Diwali break.
The court’s break starts on October 20, with proceedings resuming on October 27.
Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi, during the hearing, instructed the counsels for both sides to outline the allegations, witness testimonies, and the findings from the trial and high courts.
The bench inquired,
“When the reversal was made, what persuaded the high court to make a reversal?”
The high court had overturned the trial court’s 2010 decision that had acquitted Kumar.
Senior advocate R.S. Cheema represented the CBI, while senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan defended Kumar in the Supreme Court. Alongside Kumar’s appeal, the cases of co-convicts Balwan Khokhar and Girdhari Lal were also scheduled for review.
This case pertains to the murder of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part-I area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1-2, 1984, and the destruction of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.
The anti-Sikh riots erupted following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
Kumar surrendered to a trial court on December 31, 2018, to begin serving his sentence as per the high court’s December 17, 2018, ruling, which sentenced him to life imprisonment for “the remainder of his natural life.”
After his conviction, Kumar resigned from the Congress party. The high court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy and abetting murders, promoting religious enmity, and actions detrimental to communal harmony, including the defilement and destruction of a Gurdwara.
The court also maintained the varying sentences imposed by the trial court on five others, including Khokhar and Lal.
The high court’s ruling highlighted that over 2,700 Sikhs were killed during the riots in the capital, describing it as a carnage of unbelievable proportions, and labeled the events a crime against humanity committed by individuals who had “political patronage” and were supported by an indifferent law enforcement agency.