1984 anti-Sikh riots convict Sajjan Kumar likely to surrender before court today

Sajjan Kumar, convicted in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, is likely to surrender before a court in New Delhi on Monday. Kumar was awarded life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case by the Delhi High Court and asked to surrender by December 31. He, however, filed a plea seeking time extension for his surrender, but the request was denied by the court. The former Congress leader’s counsel Anil Kumar Sharma said that his client will comply with the High Court judgment as Supreme Court is unlikely to hear his plea against the High Court verdict during the vacation.

“We have removed the objections and the appeal in the apex court has been numbered. Presently, there are no benches in the Supreme Court. Even if we mention the matter for urgent hearing, the registrar will decide whether it will be heard by the bench. No time is left now,” PTI quoted Kumar’s lawyer as saying. “We will comply with the high court’s judgment,” he added.

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On December 21, the Delhi High Court had rejected Kumar’s plea seeking one month’s time extension to surrender. In his plea, the former Congress leader had said that he needed some time to settle family affairs and to appeal against the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. The High Court, however, rejected his plea.

On December 17, the Delhi High Court had found Sajjan Kumar guilty in the killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in South West Delhi’s Palam Colony on November 1-2, 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II during the anti-Sikh riots. Besides Sajjan Kumar, Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former Congress councilor Balwan Khokhar have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while Kishan Khokkar and former legislator Mahender Yadav have been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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More than 3,000 Sikhs were brutally killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, one of the scariest incidents of communal violence in the country. The riots had broken out following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31 by her Sikh bodyguards. Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were accused of masterminding the riots against the Sikh community.