New Delhi: Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Wednesday convicted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The case is linked with the killing of a father-son duo in the national capital’s Saraswati Vihar area on November 1, 1984. Surprisingly, justice was delivered after more than four decades of the massacre. Has justice been denied?
The matter has been listed for arguments on sentencing on February 18. Sajjan Kumar is currently serving a life sentence in another anti-Sikh riots case in Delhi Cantt. Special judge Kaveri Baweja passed the conviction order.
Sajjan Kumar was produced before the court from Tihar jail to pronounce the verdict. He was convicted for the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984. The case, pertains to the death of a father and son during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, was filed by the wife of Jaswant Singh following the attack. The case was first registered with the Punjabi Bagh police station. A special investigation team later took over the probe. The court framed charges against Kumar in mid-December 2021 after finding a “prima facie” case against him.
Delivering conviction to the second generation of the victim does mean that justice has been delayed. The Sikh massacre that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi claimed lives of over 2800 Sikh lives, 20000 flew from the city. Later in 2011, Human Rights Watch reported that the Government of India had yet to prosecute those responsible for mass killings. The government of the United States of America was convinced of the Indian National Congress;s complicity in the riots and claimed it opportunism and hatred by the then Congress government.
Almost 34 years later in December 2018, the first high-profile conviction of the anti-Sikh riots took place with the arrest of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court.
What happened in 1984?
The prosecution says an armed mob resorted to large-scale looting, arson and destruction of properties of Sikhs to avenge the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The mob killed Singh and his son and looted their house. They later set the house ablaze. 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 chargesheet in the case against Kumar alleged that the mob had attacked the house of the complainant, killing her husband and son as well as looting articles and setting their home ablaze.
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