A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday convicted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a case in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Kumar has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Kumar had been acquitted by a sessions court in 2013 in the same case, following which an appeal was made to the Delhi High Court. According to ANI, The bench comprising Justices S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel claimed the accused had enjoyed political patronage and escaped trial.
Five people had been convicted by a sessions court in 2013 for the killing of five members of a Sikh family in the Delhi Cantonment area following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984. Kumar had been acquitted in the case. Three of the five convicts were given life imprisonment, while two others were given three-year jail terms.
After Kumar was acquitted in the 2013 trial, the CBI filed an appeal claiming he had instigated the mobs. The case against Kumar was registered in 2005 based on the findings of the justice G.T. Nanavati Commission.
Kumar was regarded as a key leader of the Congress in Delhi, having served as a member of Parliament. He was denied a Lok Sabha ticket in 2009 following public protests over the anti-Sikh riots.
