Delhi court reserves order on quantum of sentence against Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots

During the hearing, a complainant, whose husband and son were killed by a mob instigated by Kumar, urged the Delhi court to award death penalty to the former Congress MP.

Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar (File Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court on Friday reserved its order on the sentencing of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The victims and the prosecution have pressed for the death penalty, labelling the crime as one of the ‘rarest of rare’ cases.

Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted on February 12 for orchestrating the brutal killing of a father-son duo in Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984, is already serving a life sentence in another 1984 riots case related to the Delhi Cantonment area.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Court has scheduled the pronouncement of the sentence for February 25 at 2 p.m. Senior advocate H S Phoolka, representing the riot victims case, has submitted written arguments demanding capital punishment for Kumar.

The prosecution, represented by Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Manish Rawat, also sought the death penalty, citing precedents from the Nirbhaya case and other landmark rulings.

Rawat argued that the killings were part of a systematic targeting of a community, violating the fundamental fabric of communal harmony. Kumar’s defense counsel, Anil Kumar Sharma, opposed the demand for capital punishment, citing legal technicalities.

He argued that Kumar’s name was not initially in police records and was added only after 16 years. He also pointed to a pending Supreme Court appeal against Sajjan Kumar’s conviction by the Delhi High Court. Sharma dismissed international legal precedents, insisting that only Indian laws should apply. He contended that no direct evidence linked Kumar to the crime and that the case relied heavily on decades-old witness testimonies.

Senior advocate H.S. Phoolka refuted these claims, alleging that systemic police manipulation delayed Kumar’s identification. He asserted that the 1984 riots were an orchestrated massacre akin to genocide. Citing the Delhi High Court’s judgment in the Delhi Cantonment case, which labelled the riots a “crime against humanity,” he said such crimes require extraordinary legal scrutiny.