1984 anti-Sikh riots: Supreme Court issues notice to CBI on Sajjan Kumar's appeal

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar's appeal against his conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S K Kaul also issued notice on Sajjan Kumar's bail plea. Sajjan Kumar, convicted in the case, surrendered before Karkardooma Court in New Delhi on December 31 with the high court's December 17 judgment, which sent him to prison for the "remainder of his natural life". The riots broke out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards.

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His counsel Anil Kumar Sharma had 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,” Anil Kumar had said. 

The case in which Kumar was convicted and sentenced relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984 and the burning down of a gurudwara.

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.