1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Delhi HC Notes Sajjan Kumar Convicted, Disposes Of SIT Plea Against Bail

The Delhi High Court on Thursday disposed of a plea against the bail granted to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case after being informed he was convicted in it.
Justice Vikas Mahajan took note of the development and disposed of the petition as being infructuous.
“The Central government standing counsel for the petitioner (SIT) submits that during the pendency of the petition, the respondent (Kumar) has been convicted in the case and formally taken into custody. Therefore, this petition has become infructuous,” said the court.
Kumar was held guilty by a trial court on February 12 in the case related to the murder of two persons in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar during the riots.
The trial court is yet to pass an order on the quantum of sentence.
Kumar is already serving life-term imprisonment in another murder case related to the riots that took place after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The SIT challenged Kumar’s reprieve in the case while seeking the trial court’s April 27, 2022 bail order to be set aside.
The high court on July 4, 2022 stayed the order and issued notice to Kumar and sought his response.
The case is over the murders of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarun Deep Singh, both residents of Raj Nagar. Four others were injured in the incident, the SIT said.
The SIT plea said a case of rioting and murder was registered at Saraswati Vihar Police Station in 1991 based on an affidavit filed by a woman in September 1985 before Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry.
The woman, the plea said, in her affidavit narrated the November 1, 1984, incident of killing and burning of her husband and son and she “clearly stated the name of accused Sajjan Kumar as a person who instigated the mob”.
The SIT said her statement was recorded in another FIR lodged at Punjabi Bagh Police Station, however, the judicial record of that FIR got weeded out.
Kumar was also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment over the killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and the burning down of a Gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part II.
His appeal challenging the punishment is pending before the Supreme Court. (PTI)