Sajjan Kumar acquitted in one of three 1984 anti-Sikh Genocide cases
DELHI, INDIA (April 30, 2013)–A special CBI court has acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all charges in one of three 1984 anti-Sikh genocide case against him. He was accused of murder and instigating mobs that killed five Sikhs in Delhi’s cantonment area on November 2, 1984. Three of the five other accused in the case have been convicted for murder; two for rioting.
A man named Karnail Singh threw a shoe at the judge in the court. He has been arrested. Outside the court, angry protests began as news of the Congressman’s acquittal came in.
An eyewitness Jagdish Kaur, who claims to have seen Sajjan Kumar leading a mob that killed her husband and father, broke down in court.
In its concluding arguments last week, the CBI told the court that there was a conspiracy of “terrifying proportion” between Mr Kumar and the police during the riots 29 years ago.
The case against Mr Kumar was registered in 2005 on the recommendation of the Nanavati Commission. The CBI had filed two chargesheets against him and the other accused in January 2010.
Mr Kumar, who was then the Congress MP from Outer Delhi, is also accused of instigating a mob during riots in the Sultanpuri area. Six people were killed in the violence there.
The Congress leader and other co-accused Ved Prakash Pial alias Vedu Pradhan and Brahmanand Gupta had moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court order to frame charges against them in the Sultanpuri case. The High Court deferred its decision yesterday saying “further hearing is required” on Mr Kumar’s plea. It posted the matter for hearing on May 15.
Apart from murder and rioting, a lower court in 2010 charged Mr Kumar and others for spreading enmity between two communities in the Sultanpuri case. The Congress leader is also facing trial in a third anti-Sikh riots case in Nangloi area of Delhi.
In 2010, the Supreme Court refused to quash the charges against Mr Kumar and said the trial would continue against him. It had also pulled up the CBI for failing to conclude its arguments and taking too much time.
Earlier this month, a Delhi court reopened an anti-Sikh riots case against another Congress leader Jagdish Tytler. He is accused of inciting a mob that killed three men during the riots.
The 1984 anti-Sikh genocide took place after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Ten different commissions and committees have looked into the 1984 riots in last three decades.