The Rouse Avenue Court convicted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar on Wednesday in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The case relates to the killing in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984, of a father-son duo during the wide-scale violence that took place after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
The conviction is another legal blunder for Kumar, who has been charged with participating in the anti-Sikh riots that killed and destroyed vast swathes of the national capital. The matter was consequently scheduled for sentencing arguments on 18 February, when the quantum of punishment will be decided.
Sajjan Kumar has already been handed a life prison term in a different 1984 anti-Sikh riots case involving the Delhi Cantt killings. In that case, he was convicted by the Delhi High Court in 2018, following a lower court’s acquittal, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was seen as a major step toward bringing justice for the victims and their families who had been seeking accountability for decades.
The latest conviction adds clout to the legal hit taken on those accused of carrying out and encouraging violence towards the Sikh community in 1984. An old story with survivors and human rights groups asking for justice even today, the riots that claimed thousands of lives still rank as among India’s darkest chapters of history.
The legal proceedings against Sajjan Kumar would keep the focus on long-pendent cases concerning the 1984 anti-Sikh riots when they head towards the upcoming sentencing hearing.
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