Congress leader Sajjan Kumar has been found guilty and has been sentenced to life in jail for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots by the Delhi High Court bench of Justice S. Murlidhar & Justice Vinod Goel, which cancelled an earlier court order acquitting him.
Sajjan Kumar, 73, was convicted in the killing of five members of a family in Raj Nagar in Delhi. He has been asked to surrender by December 31 and cannot leave the city.
At least 3,000 people were killed by mobs after the assassination in November, 1984, of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Delhi High held Sajjan Kumar is convicted and sentenced as under:
(i) For the offence of criminal conspiracy punishable under Section 120BÂ read with
(a) Section 302 IPC, to imprisonment for life, i.e. the remainder of his natural life;
(b) Section 436 IPC, to RI for 10 years and fine of Rs. 1 lakh and in default of payment of fine to undergo SI for 1 year;
(c) Section 153A (1) (a) and (b) IPC, to RI for three years; and (d) Section 295 IPC, to RI for two years.
(ii) For the offence of abetting the commission of criminal offences punishable under Section 109 read with Sections 302, 436, 153A (1)
(a) and (b), and 295 IPC to identical sentences as in (i) (a) to (d)Â above.
“Criminals have enjoyed political patronage,” the court noted, also saying there was “abject police failure” as the police failed to act against the inability of the victims to file complaints. A former Congress councillor, Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal and three others were held guilty in the Raj Nagar case but a trial court had acquitted Sajjan Kumar.
Read the full judgment here:
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