A Delhi court on Tuesday (February 25) awarded life imprisonment to former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a murder case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja pronounced the judgment for the alleged killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984.

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

The verdict came over 40 years after the riots. Kumar is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, already serving sentence in another case related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The case relates to killing of one S. Jaswant Singh and his son S. Tarundeep Singh, both residents of Raj Nagar, Delhi, at the hands of an unruly mob comprising thousands of persons during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

It is the case of the prosecution that accused Kumar was leading the mob and it was upon his instigation and abetment that the mob burnt alive the two persons, damaged and looted their household articles and other property, burnt down their house and also inflicted severe injuries on their family members and relatives residing in their house.

The prosecution stated that due to the above violent conduct of mob, all the victims were forced to come out of their house and while both the deceased were murdered by burning them alive in an adjoining vacant plot, the other victims of this case were also beaten by the mob and they suffered grievous injuries, though they somehow managed to save their lives.

The complainant is the wife of deceased S. Jaswant Singh and mother of deceased S. Tarundeep Singh. Though the Punjabi Bagh police station registered the case initially, a special investigation team later took over the probe.

Source: The Hindu
--Agencies