Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for his role in the killing of a father and son during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The verdict, delivered on Tuesday, has left victims’ families disappointed as they had been demanding the death penalty for decades.
The case pertains to the murders of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984, following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Petitioners have the option of challenging the sentence in the Delhi High Court.
Following the announcement of the sentence by Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, victims’ families gathered outside the court, expressing outrage.
An elderly woman, speaking to a section of the media, said, “I am 80 years old now, we have never got justice. Children and women were murdered on the streets. I will never forget the horror.”
The judge noted the brutality of the offences but cited Kumar’s age of 80 years and health issues as mitigating factors in deciding against the death penalty.
A relative of a victim said they were dissatisfied with the verdict. “We wanted nothing less than the death penalty. Some 186 cases were reopened and an SIT [Special Investigation Team] was formed. After the BJP came into power at the Centre, the justice system started moving faster,” he said.
He accused the Congress of politicising the case.
“It was a genocide, not a riot. Just as Hitler’s men killed people, the Congress’s people killed Sikhs. Indira Gandhi’s assassins were given the death sentence swiftly, but justice for the killings of 10,000 people is still delayed.”
On January 31, the court had reserved its verdict after hearing additional submissions by Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat. Defence lawyer Anil Sharma argued that Kumar was not named in the initial case and that it took 16 years for a witness to identify him as an accused.
He also pointed out that Kumar’s conviction in another case is currently under appeal in the Supreme Court.
The prosecution countered that the victims’ families did not initially know Kumar but identified him once they became aware of his role.
Senior lawyer HS Phoolka, representing the riot victims, criticised the police investigation, calling it manipulated and slow. He stated that the extraordinary circumstances of the anti-Sikh riots must be considered in handling such cases.
Referring to a Delhi High Court judgment, Phoolka emphasised that this was not an isolated case but part of a wider massacre.
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