1984 anti-Sikh riots case conviction: Will Sajjan Kumar get death penalty?

A Delhi court convicted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a case related to the murders of two people during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Special judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order and would hear the arguments on the quantum of punishment on February 18.

It is Kumar’s second conviction related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots; he faces two more cases. He was awarded life imprisonment over the killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony of southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. His appeal against the conviction is pending in the Supreme Court.

Kumar had resigned from the Congress soon after his conviction in 2018.

The current case is related to the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar area on November 1, 1984, to avenge the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. The case attracts a maximum punishment of death penalty and life-term imprisonment as the minimum sentence, according to PTI. All eyes are now on special judge Baweja – whether he would be awarded another life term or be given capital punishment.

Kumar was produced in court today from Tihar jail.

More than 2,700 people were killed in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, according to official figures. The Nanavati Commission, which was constituted to investigate the riots, had said that 587 FIRs were filed in Delhi. Of these, police closed 240 as "untraced" and the accused were acquitted in 250 cases. Around 400 people were convicted in 28 cases, with around 50 convicted for murder, including Kumar.

‘Justice delivered’: BJP leaders hails Sajjan Kumar’s conviction in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

BJP leader and one of the probable candidates for the Delhi chief minister’s post, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, hailed Kumar’s conviction. “One by one, all the sins of1984 are coming to light. Congress kept shielding Sajjan Kumar and other criminals, but truth has prevailed,” he said in a video message on X.

Sirsa credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reopening the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases by launching a Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigation into the massacre.

BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, too, hailed the conviction as a historic moment for Sikhs, and called it justice delivered, albeit late. “Congress used voter lists to identify Sikh homes and attack them. Former PM Rajiv Gandhi justified it by saying, ‘When a big tree falls, the earth shakes',” said Chugh.