New Delhi, Jan 22
After a Delhi court acquitted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in connection with the alleged killings of two persons during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, family members of the victims broke down in front of the court premises.
Pronouncing a brief order, Special Judge Digvijay Singh of the Rouse Avenue Courts acquitted 78-year-old Sajjan Kumar in connection with the alleged killings of two Sikhs, Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh, in Delhi's Janakpuri, and another incident in Vikaspuri where one Gurcharan Singh was allegedly set ablaze, during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Shouting 'Sikho ke katilo ko fansi do (hang the killers of Sikhs)', the family members of the victims could not hold their tears after hearing the verdict. They demanded capital punishment for those who are accused of the killings of the two innocent Sikh men.
An elderly woman fainted in front of the premises while protesting the verdict.
The family members of the victims said that they hoped that they would get justice; however, they were left broken by the verdict.
"We have been fighting this case for 42 years, yet we haven't got justice. If the government says he is not guilty, why was he kept imprisoned till now? There were 18 cases against him. He is lying. We had hope that we would get justice, but why were we denied justice?" a woman told IANS.
She further claimed that seven members of her family were killed during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots -- her father and six uncles. "They were burned alive in front of us. These people killed our entire family. This was our hope, and today, it was also crushed," she added.
Another woman, who lost ten family members in 1984, told IANS, "Why has the person who hunted down and killed Sikhs been acquitted? How can the court do this? Why is Sajjan Kumar being acquitted of these crimes? We want justice. If you are acquitting this culprit, then bring our family members back."
"If he (Sajjan Kumar) was innocent, then why was he kept locked up for these years? I'll tell you why. Because he is responsible for killing our family members. What was our fault that our family members were brutally killed? This is injustice," another woman told IANS.
The case pertained to allegations of violence during the riots that broke out following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
Decades later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted on the recommendation of the Justice G.P. Mathur Committee to reopen 114 cases.
In August 2023, the trial court formally framed charges against Sajjan Kumar under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) but decided to drop the murder charge under Section 302, applied earlier by the SIT.
The trial in the matter had concluded on September 23 last year, after which the court reserved its verdict on December 22.
Earlier, Sajjan Kumar had pleaded not guilty to the charges, maintaining that he was innocent and could not have been involved in the alleged offences "even in his wildest dreams".
He claimed that there was no material evidence linking him to the incidents and claimed that he was not present at the sites of violence.
On November 9, 2023, the court had recorded the statement of the victim, Manjeet Kaur, who stated that she had heard from members of the mob that Sajjan Kumar was present during the violence, but clarified that she did not personally see him at the scene.
Sajjan Kumar, who was a Member of Parliament at the time of the riots, has been accused in multiple cases of inciting mobs to attack members of the Sikh community.
In an earlier verdict, the Delhi High Court had delivered a scathing judgment against him in another case, observing that he had evaded justice for decades due to "political patronage" and sentenced him to life imprisonment. His appeal against that conviction is pending before the Supreme Court.
