Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
India

1984 Anti-Sikh Massacre: Supreme Court To Hear Sajjan Kumar’s Bail Plea In August

Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Apr, 2019 05:13 PM

    The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear in the first week of August the bail application of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was awarded life term by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.


    The CBI told a bench of Justices SA Bobde and SA Nazeer that the offence of which Kumar was convicted was of “gruesome nature” as it was a “genocide”.


    Kumar, 73, who is lodged in jail, had resigned from the Congress after he was convicted by the high court.


    The case in which he was convicted and sentenced relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment’s Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on November 1-2 in 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.


    Anti-Sikh riots had broken out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards.


    Kumar has also challenged in the apex court the Delhi High Court’s verdict of December 17 last year that awarded him life imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life” in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.


    During the hearing on Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, told the apex court that Kumar is facing trial in another 1984 anti-Sikh riots case at the Patiala House district court here.


    Mehta said recording of evidence was going on in the case and out of 35 prosecution witnesses seven had been examined till date.


    The counsel representing Kumar said the former Congress leader was granted anticipatory bail by the high court in the case in which trial is going on and it was affirmed by the apex court also.


    “This will have to be heard fully,” the bench said.


    When Kumar’s counsel said that hearing on the bail plea would not take much time, Mehta said, “See the gruesome nature of offence. It was genocide.”


    The bench said it would hear the matter in the first week of August.


    On April 8, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had opposed his bail plea and claimed in the court that Kumar was the “kingpin” of a gruesome offence in which Sikhs were “massacred” in Delhi during the 1984 riots.


    However, the counsel representing Kumar had said that the former Congress leader was in jail for the past more than three months and during the adjudication of the trial, he was out on anticipatory bail and never misused the liberty.


    Kumar had surrendered before a trial court here on December 31, 2018, to serve the sentence in pursuance of the high court’s December 17 verdict.


    The high court had convicted and sentenced Kumar to spend the remainder of his life in jail for the offences of criminal conspiracy and abetment in commission of crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony and defiling and destruction of a gurdwara.


    It had also upheld the conviction and varying sentences awarded by a trial court to five others--former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and ex-MLAs Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.


    The high court had set aside the trial court’s 2010 verdict, which had acquitted Kumar.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Urmila Matondkar Slammed For Using Abhinandan Varthaman's Image At Rally

    Photos of Urmila Matondkar, the Congress Party's candidate from Mumbai North, with Mr Varthaman's image went viral on the micro-blogging site on Monday.

    Urmila Matondkar Slammed For Using Abhinandan Varthaman's Image At Rally

    Woman Driven Out Of Matrimonial House Can File Case Anywhere: Top Court

    Woman Driven Out Of Matrimonial House Can File Case Anywhere: Top Court
    The apex court's verdict came on an appeal filed by Rupali Devi against the Allahabad High Court which dismissed her plea to file a dowry harassment case from her parents' house.  

    Woman Driven Out Of Matrimonial House Can File Case Anywhere: Top Court

    Ahead Of Baisakhi, Pakistan To Issue Visas To 2,200 Sikh Pilgrims

    Ahead Of Baisakhi, Pakistan To Issue Visas To 2,200 Sikh Pilgrims
    Pakistan's High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood said the gesture by Pakistan to issue these visas was reflective of the reverence attached to Baisakhi.  

    Ahead Of Baisakhi, Pakistan To Issue Visas To 2,200 Sikh Pilgrims

    It's Welcome: Rajinikanth On BJP's Poll Promise Of Interlinking Rivers

    Interlinking of rivers is among the promises made in the BJP's manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls released on Monday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    It's Welcome: Rajinikanth On BJP's Poll Promise Of Interlinking Rivers

    We Will Come Out Stronger In Punjab, Says AAP Lawmaker Bhagwant Mann

    Lok Sabha Elections 2019: "Our performance in the Lok Sabha polls will be better than the last general elections," said Bhagwant Mann.

    We Will Come Out Stronger In Punjab, Says AAP Lawmaker Bhagwant Mann

    UK's Expression Of Regret Will Help In Jallianwala Bagh Closure: Minister Hardeep Puri

    "I think some form of expression would be in order. But I am saying this in my personal capacity. Government of India's stand is to be articulated by the Ministry of External Affairs or anyone else," Hardeep Puri said.

    UK's Expression Of Regret Will Help In Jallianwala Bagh Closure: Minister Hardeep Puri