New Delhi: A Delhi court has awarded life-term imprisonment to former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a murder case connected to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja pronounced the judgement for the murders of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984.
The court on February 12 convicted Kumar for the offence and sought a report from Tihar Central Jail on his psychiatric and psychological evaluation in view of a Supreme Court order asking for such a report in cases attracting capital punishment.
The offence of murder attracts a maximum punishment of death penalty, while the minimum sentence was life imprisonment.
The complainant, Jaswant’s wife, and the prosecution, had sought maximum punishment for Kumar.
He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
Though Punjabi Bagh police station registered the case initially, a special investigation team later took over the investigation.
On December 16, 2021, the court framed charges against Kumar, finding a “prima facie” case against him.
According to the prosecution, a huge mob, armed with deadly weapons, resorted to large-scale looting, arson and destruction of properties of Sikhs to avenge the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The mob attacked the house of the complainant, who is Jaswant’s wife, killing the men aside from looting articles and setting their house ablaze, the prosecution claimed.
Kumar was put on trial after the court found sufficient material to form a “prima facie opinion that he was not only a participant, but had also led the mob”.
With a Delhi court awarding life imprisonment to former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a murder case connected to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the BJP Tuesday said the “wheels of justice” have started moving and hoped that the other accused would also meet their fate.
BJP national spokesperson R P Singh, a Sikh leader, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file an appeal before the higher court seeking death penalty for Kumar.
