Congress leader Sajjan Kumar gets life term in 1984 anti-Sikh riot case

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Congress leader Sajjan Kumar gets life term in 1984 anti-Sikh riot case

The Delhi High Court however reversed the lower court's verdict saying, the accused in the case enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial

Monday December 17, 2018 11:55 AM, ummid.com News Network

New Delhi: Delhi High Court Monday convicted senior Delhi Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti Sikh riot case and sent him to jail for life.

Sajjan Kumar was earlier acuqitted by a lower court. The Delhi High Court however reversed the lower court's verdict saying, the accused in the case enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial.

“In the summer of 1947, during partition, several people were massacred. 37 years later Delhi was the witness of a similar tragedy. The accused enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial,” the Delhi High Court judgement by a bench comprising Justices S Muralidhar and IS Mehta said.

"It was an extraordinary case where it was going to be impossible to proceed against Sajjan Kumar in the normal scheme of things as there appeared to be ongoing large-scale efforts to suppress cases against him by not even recording them", it added.

The CBI had moved the Delhi High Court against the acquittal of Sajjan Kumar in a case relating to the killing of five Sikhs Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh, all belonging to the same family, by a mob in Delhi Cantonment’s Raj Nagar area during the riots.

The killings occurred a day after former prime minister of India Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.

Interestingly, Sajjan Kumar's conviction in anti-Sikh riot case came on the day another Congress leader Kamal Nath is taking oath as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath has been named in a report filed to the e Nanavati Commission and later to Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission to have been 'controlling' a mob during the riots.

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