The Supreme Court will hear after Diwali the petitions filed by Sajjan Kumar and Balwant Khokhar, seeking suspension of their sentence and bail in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
A bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi directed the convicts’ counsel to file a chart summarising the observations made by the trial court and the Delhi High Court in the case.
Earlier, convict Balwant Khokhar, through advocate Rakesh Dahiya, informed the court that prison authorities rejected his application for furlough on 26 September 2024, despite the apex court’s earlier direction to consider it promptly.
Khokhar has challenged the Delhi High Court’s 17 December 2018 order, which upheld his conviction. He was convicted along with Sajjan Kumar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code in the Delhi Cantonment case.
Sajjan Kumar and Khokhar Serving Life Sentences
Sajjan Kumar, a former Congress leader, is serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail after the Delhi High Court overturned the 2013 trial court verdict that had acquitted him. He has been in prison since 17 December 2018, the day of his conviction.
Balwant Khokhar is also serving a life term and has remained in custody since the same date.
In his plea, Khokhar claimed that he is a 66-year-old senior citizen suffering from 54% permanent disability in his lower limbs. He also cited multiple health conditions, including diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, as grounds for leniency.
The petition recalled that former legislator Mahender Yadav, who had received a 10-year sentence in the same case, died of COVID-19 complications in Mandla Jail.
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