Who is Sajjan Kumar? Ex-Congress MP convicted for double murder during 1984 anti-Sikh riots
Sajjan Kumar was a three-time Lok Sabha MP from the Congress party, representing the Outer Delhi constituency.
A Delhi court convicted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar on Wednesday for the murder of a father-son duo during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the national capital.
The court will announce the quantum of the sentence on February 18 after hearing arguments from both the defence and prosecution. Kumar is currently serving a life sentence in another case related to the pogrom in Delhi Cantt.
The court had reserved the judgment after hearing the final arguments in the case related to the killings of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984.
Jaswant Singh's wife had registered a complaint against Kumar for killing her husband and son. The prosecution had accused the Congress MP of abetting large-scale looting, arson and destruction of properties of their house as part of violence to avenge the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Who is Sajjan Kumar?
Sajjan Kumar was a three-time Lok Sabha MP from the Congress party, representing the Outer Delhi constituency. He resigned from the primary membership of the party after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a case related to the riots in December 2018.
A fact-finding report by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) found that the riots were not a spontaneous reaction to Indira Gandhi's assassination but a deliberate attack engineered by Congress politicians.
Survivors of the riots blamed Kumar for being the “mastermind” of the attacks and alleged that he paid ₹100 and a bottle of liquor to each attacker. Post riots, survivors at Sikh refugee camps refused aid offered by Kumar, saying he was the main instigator behind the violence.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court for the killings of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony and for burning down a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. Kumar has appealed the conviction in the Supreme Court.
Hearing in two other appeals against his acquittal by the trial court is pending before the high court.
Two more cases are pending in Delhi trial courts related to violence near a Gurdwara situated in Gulab Bagh, Nawada.
The Congress leader is also facing trial in a case related to riots in Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas.
Conviction welcomed
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) General Secretary Jagdip Singh Kahlon welcomed the latest conviction. “Sajjan Kumar, who was leading the Sikh massacre 40 years ago, has been convicted, and he should be punished. I thank the court for this. I thank PM Modi and HM Amit Shah for forming an SIT after coming to power. This is the result of reinvestigating the closed cases. We hope that we will get justice in the Jagdish Tytler case also.”
(With PTI inputs)
