2nd life term for Sajjan Kumar: Why court didn't give death penalty to former Congress MP

Sajjan kumar

A special Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to life term for the murder of two Sikh men during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. With Today's order, Kumar will be undergoing two separate cases of life imprisonment.

Kumar, presently, is lodged in Tihar Jail, where he is serving a life sentence handed down by the Delhi High Court in 2018 in a case related to the killing of five Sikhs at Raj Nagar Part I in Palam Colony on November 1-2, 1984, and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part II.

However, several Sikh groups, ahead of the order on Tuesday, demanded death penalty for former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar ahead of the verdict by a special court in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

1)  The Convict, Sajjan Kumar is 80-year-old and is suffering from severe mental diseases.

2) The convict, who is already undergoing life imprisonment, in a separate case related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

3) The convicts behavior during  sentence term is found to be satisfactory.

4) The convict's wife is bedridden due to illness and is an elderly woman.

Gurlad Singh, who was leading the protest outside the court premises, said, "Four decades have passed now, and it is judiciary's phrase that justice delayed is justice denied. We demand only the death penalty for Sajjan Kumar."

Singh said the crime fell under the "rarest of the rare" category as the 1984 riots were a "pre-planned genocide". The Sikh community, he said, was still mourning the loss of their loved ones, and hoped the sentencing bring would bring some sort of closure and justice for the victims and their families.

The court on February 12 convicted Kumar for the offence and sought a report from Tihar Central Jail authorities on his psychiatric and psychological evaluation in view of a Supreme Court order asking for such a report in cases attracting capital punishment.

The prosecution alleged a huge mob, armed with deadly weapons, resorted to large-scale looting, arson and destruction of properties of Sikhs to avenge the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.