1984 Riots Case: Sajjan Kumar Surrenders Before Delhi Court

Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on Monday (Dec 310 surrendered before a Delhi court to serve life sentence in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which he was convicted by the Delhi High Court. He surrendered before Metropolitan Magistrate Aditi Garg.

The 73-year-old former Congress leader was sentenced to life for the “remainder of his natural life” by the Delhi High Court on December 17. It had set a deadline of December 31 for Kumar to surrender. The high court had on December 21 declined his plea to extend the time of his surrender by a month.

Sajjan Kumar is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Outer Delhi as a member of the Indian National Congress but resigned from the primary membership of the party after he was convicted in a case relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He was accused of leading rioters in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Eyewitnesses had testified how Sajjan Kumar incited mobs to kill Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. In 2012, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) prosecutor told a Delhi court that riots targeting the Sikhs had the “patronage” of Sajjan Kumar. CBI alleged that he organised anti-Sikh riots and he along with five others are being tried at court for killing six Sikh people.

In April 2013, the Karkardooma district court in Delhi acquitted Sajjan Kumar, while convicting five others, leading to protests. On 27 August 2013, the Delhi High Court accepted an appeal filed by the CBI against Kumar’s previous acquittal by a lower court. CBI stated that the trial court “erred in acquitting Sajjan Kumar as it was he who had instigated the mob during the riots”. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by Delhi High Court on 17 December 2018 for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. On 18 December 2018, he resigned from his party Indian National Congress. His lawyer said they will appeal in the Supreme Court of India.