New Delhi: In his second conviction in the anti-Sikh riots case, the Rouse Avenue district court in Delhi Wednesday found former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar guilty for the murder of two Sikh men in 1984.
By way of a 139-page-ruling, a bench of Justice Kaveri Baweja found Kumar guilty of offences like murder, rioting, rioting while being armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, attempt to commit culpable homicide, dacoity, attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt and mischief, among other things.
“In conclusion, in the light of the above discussion and the evidence on record considered in its totality, I am of the opinion that Prosecution has been able to prove its case against the Accused beyond reasonable doubt,” said Justice Baweja, while adding that Kumar will be convicted in the present case.
The case against Kumar was led by Senior Advocate H.S. Phoolka, along with advocates Kamna Vohra and Gurbaksh Singh. These lawyers were representing two men—Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh—who had been murdered during the violence in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar on 1 November, 1984.
Speaking to ThePrint, advocate Kamna Vohra said, “The incident took place in Saraswati Vihar’s Raj Nagar locality. It pertains to the brutal killing and assault of two Sikh men in November 1984. Although the Delhi Police had initially closed the case citing lack of evidence, the issue picked up steam after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) started investigating it in 2015. Witnesses like the deceased’s wife and daughter were examined, and finally, he (Kumar), was convicted at 2 pm today.”
Adding that the case has been posted for arguments on 18 February, with respect to the sentencing aspect, Vohra said, “The quantum of his sentence is yet to be decided, but it could range anywhere from life sentence to death penalty.”
Notably, Kumar has been behind bars for six years without bail or suspension of his sentence. He is serving a life term in another 1984 case for burning a gurdwara and killing five Sikhs in Raj Nagar.
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The case against Kumar
In November 1984, Delhi witnessed widespread anti-Sikh riots across the country, following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.
Subsequently, thousands of Sikhs were killed, their houses and shops burnt and their belongings looted.
One such case was that of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh, both residents of Raj Nagar, Delhi, where an unruly mob comprising thousands of persons, led by accused Sajjan Kumar, burnt them alive, damaged and looted their household articles and burnt down their house, while inflicting injuries on their family members.
An affidavit was filed in September 1985 before the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission of Inquiry. The commission was set up by the government in the aftermath of the 1984 riots—amid widespread criticism from human rights bodies—“to inquire into the allegations in regard to the incidents of organized violence which took place in Delhi and also the disturbances which took place in the Bokaro Tehsil, Chas Tehsil and at Kanpur”, and to suggest measures for preventing such incidents.
On what grounds did the court find him guilty?
After considering both oral and written evidence in the case, the court said that the prosecution was successful in establishing that Kumar instigated the mob, which was armed with deadly weapons like lathis and sarias (iron rods).
The mob being an ‘unlawful assembly’ within the meaning of Section 141 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), used force and violence in its common objective of looting and rioting while armed, the court noted.
“Further, the fact that the members of the ‘unlawful assembly’ were armed with iron rods, lathis, bricks etc. also proves that alleged offences were committed after having made preparations for committing such offences,” the court said.
The court also noted that since Kumar was a member of this unlawful assembly, he “is guilty of having committed the murder of S. Jaswant Singh and S. Tarundeep Singh, the husband and son of the Complainant PW-13, during the incident” that occurred in November 1984.
The witnesses in the case, namely the wife and the daughter, were also able to prove that they suffered injuries at the hands of the mob, which Kumar was a part of, the court noted.
The “unlawful assembly or mob comprising of thousands of persons armed with deadly weapons like ‘lathis’, ‘sarias’ etc. resorted to looting, burning and destruction of property” the court noted while convicting Kumar in the case.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: A new documentary restarts the old debate on 1984 violence. Genocide, riots, pogrom?
