1984 Riots: Ex-Congress MP Sajjan Kumar Gets Life Term

Indian National Congress would surely remember its former member Sajjan Kumar who was handed life imprisonment yesterday by the Delhi High Court for his involvment in a gruesome murder of a father and his son during the anti-sikh riots of 1984. This killing of Jaswant Singh along with his son Tarundeep Singh which took place on the 1st day of the November month in the year 1984 has been deliberated by Special Judge Kaveri Baweja.

In support of the accusation, Jaswant’s wife has tried to plead for the death sentence for Mr. Kumar. Though the accusation is outlined as murder, which in terms of law can draw capital sentence, the least preferable term is life imprisonment. 

As expected the court had ruled against Sajjan Kumar on 12th February and from then have been waiting for response from Tihar Central Jail. After hearing from the Supreme Court on his claim, Kumar was directed to have his mental health evaluated, since there is the option for capital punishment. Kumar has been in prison since 2018 for his relations with other anti sikh riot cases near Delhi. Right now he is in Tihar Jail.

The case was originally registered with the police at Punjabi Bagh but was subsequently taken over by an SIT. It was the prosecution’s case that a very large mob armed with lethal weapons went on a rampant spree of looting, arson, and destruction of Sikhs' properties subsequent to the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The mob allegedly assaulted the complainant’s house and murdered her husband and son, plundered the house, and subsequently set the complainant’s house on fire.

Kumar, a former member of parliament for Outer Delhi, was in the Congress party but abandoned it after being found guilty in a different case pertaining to the riots. When being sentenced, he said that I am almost 80 years old and have been a model prisoner. He also stated that he had never used furlough or any form of legal remedy during the time he was imprisoned.