1984 Anti-Sikh Riots : Supreme Court Asks CBI To Verify Medical Condition Of Ex-Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar In His Bail Plea

The division bench of Justices SK Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy has also asked the investigation agency to file an affidavit by September 6, 2021.

Citing that it was no small case, a bench of former Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna & V. Ramasubramanian on September 4, 2020, had refused to grant bail to ex-Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

On May 13, 2020, it had also refused to grant interim bail to the ex-congress MP stating that there was no ground for hospitalisation reflected in the medical report submitted by the AIIMS board warranting bail.

Background

Kumar was convicted and sentenced to life for the remainder of his life by the high court on December 17 in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the Raj Nagar area.

The case relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II during that period. The riots had broken out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards.

The high court had rejected Kumar's plea seeking an extension of time till January 30 to surrender for serving his punishment.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel said it saw no grounds to grant him the relief and rejected his application. It had asked Kumar to surrender by December 31.

The six accused, including Kumar who was a Member of Parliament at that time was sent for trial in 2010. Three years later, the lower court convicted five of the accused but acquitted him of all the charges.

The high court upheld the conviction and varying sentences awarded by the trial court to the other five -- former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former MLAs Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar. It also convicted them for criminal conspiracy to burn down residences of Sikh families and a gurdwara in the area during the riots.

The trial court in 2013 had awarded life term to Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal, and a three-year jail term to Yadav and Kishan Khokhar. Following the high court verdict, the life term of Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal has been upheld, and the sentence of Yadav and Kishan Khokar has been enhanced to 10 years in jail. All six, including Kumar, were directed by the high court to surrender by December 31, and not leave Delhi.

On January 14, the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had issued notice on Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar's plea against his conviction and sentence in the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Case.

Case Title: Sajjan Kumar v CBI

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