Sajjan Kumar convicted in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, gets life imprisonment

The Delhi High Court on Monday convicted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The HC has reversed the earlier trial court's judgement in which he had been acquitted in the case.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday convicted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and sentenced him to life. While holding Kumar guilty, the HC reversed the earlier trial court's judgement in which he had been acquitted in the case. Kumar has been asked to surrender by 31 December 2018.

Kumar had been acquitted by a trial court, however, Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and two others were held guilty in the case relating to the murder of five members of a family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984 after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal had been sentenced to life while former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar had been awarded a three-year jail term. The convicts had challenged their conviction and sentencing by the trial court in May 2013. 

Appealing against Kumar's acquittal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had alleged that the accused were engaged in "a planned communal riot" and "religious cleansing". 

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel had on October 29 concluded hearing arguments on the appeals filed by the CBI, riots victims and the convicts, and reserved the judgement.