New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (January 6) said that it would hear in July pleas of former Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Sajjan Kumar and former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar challenging sentences awarded to them in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot case.
A bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Aravind Kumar, while hearing the matter, summoned the records of the trial court and said that the records would be supplied to all parties concerned.
What did the bench say if final hearing could not take place as scheduled?
The bench, during the hearing, also made it clear that the petitioners will have the liberty to request the top court to consider the prayer of the suspension of their sentences if the final hearing into the matter could not take place as scheduled.
The top court, earlier hearing the matter, had sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Khokhar’s seeking suspension of his life sentence in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Kumar, Khokhar are currently lodged in Tihar Jail
Khokhar is currently serving his life sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail and Kumar is also serving life sentence in the case in the same jail. Former MLA Mahender Yadav, who was also sentenced to 10-year imprisonment in the case, died of COVID-19 in Delhi’s Mandoli jail.
High Court upheld Khokhar’s sentence and overturned acquittal of Kumar
The Delhi High Court upheld sentence awarded to Khokhar in the case in 2018 and overturned trial court’s acquittal of Kumar in 2013.
The High Court, while overturning the acquittal of Kumar, said that a majority of the perpetrators of these horrific mass crimes enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement agency and the criminals escaped prosecution and punishment for over two decades.
Riots broke out following assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984
Following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards in the national capital, riots broke out and this case relates to the killing of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part 1 area in Palm Colony in South West Delhi on November 1 and 2, 1984 and the burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part II.
