New Delhi, 25 February — A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment for the murder of a father-son duo in Saraswati Vihar during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, who had reserved her order on February 21, rejected the prosecution’s request for the death penalty.
Prosecutor Manish Rawat had argued for capital punishment, calling it a “rarest of rare” case. The complainant, who lost her husband and son, had sought the death penalty.
Kumar (79) was convicted on February 12, with Baweja ruling that the prosecution had proven its case “beyond reasonable doubt.”
He was found guilty of murder, rioting, dacoity, culpable homicide, and arson as part of an unlawful assembly.
Already serving a life term in another 1984 riots case, Kumar has been in jail since December 31, 2018, after his conviction by the Delhi High Court for the killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar, Palam Colony. His appeal against that verdict remains pending before the Supreme Court.
This marks the second conviction in cases reopened based on recommendations from a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2015.
Following the SIT’s probe, the complainant recorded her statement in 2016, leading to Kumar’s arrest in April 2021 while he was serving his sentence in Tihar Jail.
The case pertains to the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984. A mob armed with weapons looted their house before setting it on fire, killing both men. The case was initially registered at Punjabi Bagh police station before being transferred to the SIT.
Kumar was previously acquitted in a separate 1984 riots case in Sultanpuri, but the state’s appeal is pending before the Delhi High Court. He also faces another trial for culpable homicide in Janakpuri, with hearings scheduled before Judge Baweja.
Nearly 3,000 people, mostly Sikhs, were killed in the riots that erupted after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984.
In a 2018 ruling, one accused was sentenced to death and another to life imprisonment for killings in Mahipalpur, with their appeals still pending in the Delhi High Court.