1984 Riots Case: Court Allows Sajjan Kumar To Present Journalist As Defence Witness

A Delhi special court on Saturday allowed former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to call a journalist as his defence witness in a case linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri.

Court Grants Plea for Defence Witness

Special Judge Digvinay Singh at Rouse Avenue Court accepted Kumar’s request to present the journalist on September 16 and fixed the next hearing for the same date.

Earlier, the court recorded Kumar’s statement in which he insisted that he was innocent and falsely implicated.

He told the court, “I never committed this crime, not even in my dreams, and no evidence exists against me.”

Kumar alleged that political motives drove the charges against him and added that no witness named him initially, but they implicated him decades later.

The court is trying Kumar for allegedly instigating riots that killed two Sikhs, Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh, in Janakpuri, and for another incident in Vikaspuri where a mob allegedly set Gurcharan Singh ablaze.

The 1984 anti-Sikh riots erupted after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

Decades later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed on the Justice GP Mathur Committee’s recommendation, reopened 114 cases.

Charges Against Sajjan Kumar

In August 2023, the trial court framed charges against Kumar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, but dropped the murder charge under Section 302 applied earlier by the SIT.

In February this year, a trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984.

The SIT concluded that Kumar led a mob that killed the victims, destroyed property, and attacked family members.

Members of the Sikh community have described the 1984 riots as one of the ‘darkest and most shameful’ chapters in India’s history. They urged the court to deliver justice and demanded that Sajjan Kumar receive the death penalty.

Also Read: CJI Gavai Highlights Strong India-Nepal Judicial Ties At Kathmandu Dialogue