Former MP Sajjan Kumar sentenced to life by Delhi HC. Will move to Supreme Court against the judgement

The verdict finally arrives after thirty four protracted years in the 1984 anti Sikh riots by the Delhi high court convicting n sentencing the senior Congress leader and former member of parliament Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment on several charges of perpetrating mob violence and murder of several Sikhs after the assasination of late prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Sajjan Kumar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on the witness of Harjit Kaur and two other Sikh women whose husbands and family members were brutally massacred in these riots on the alleged instigation of the former.

The Congress party’s senior leader’s conviction n subsequent sentencing has put the Congress in political quandary as the high court has also noted that it was due to the alleged political patronage granted to the accused that the case took more than three decades to come to the final conclusion. Sajjan Kumar has been directed to surrender till 31st December.

After the verdict of the High court the politics between the Congress and BJP has hotted up with the leaders of both the parties accusing each other for being allegedly involved and patronising the culprits of the roits.

While the union finance minister Arun Jaitley has pronounced Sajjan Kumar as the symbol of tyrrany n anti Sikh roits having been allegedly patronised by the Congress party n its subsequent governments, the former union minister and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has accused the BJP and its certain leaders for being allegedly involved in the Godhara riots of 2002 having not brought to justice till yet. He had questioned as to why are they not being brought to justice?

It may be recalled that after the assasination of late prime minister Smt Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh body guards there have been massive anti Sikh riots all over the country in retaliation by rioters allegedly at the behest of the then ruling party as accused by the BJP and the riot victims.

According to the statistics about 8000 Sikhs were killed in these riots nationally, with three thousand casualties in Delhi, exclusively. The massacre was termed as a genocide never ever happened earlier.

The victimised and traumatised Sikh families who’d lost their near n dear ones in this massacre then have been since then moving to various courts to seek justice.

Several commissions were also constituted to bring the culprits involved in these riotous violence to justice including the Nanawati Commission.

Till now about 31 cullprits have been convicted. It has been revealed that despite several enquiry commissions and cases in the courts of law, the main perpetrators of the violence were not being nailed n brought to justice because of their being influential politically.

After the formation of the BJP led NDA government a fresh SIT was constituted to expedite the proceedings on the basis of the charge sheet filed by the premier investigation agency CBI and the case was being heard by the High Court Delhi.

The Court led by the justice Murlidharan on the witness of three victimsed women, Harjeet Kaur and two others finally convicted former MP n senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment to the much relief of the 1984 riot victims n their families, with the court also noting that political patronage to the perpetrators of violence n mob lynching in the anti Sikh riots of 1984, Mumbai riots of 1983 and the Godhara riots of 2002 where the pattern looks to be almost similar, are allegedly protected due to political patronage resulting in tremendous delay in bringing the real culprits to justice.