1984 anti-Sikh riots: SC refuses to grant interim bail to Sajjan Kumar

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 13 

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim bail to former Delhi Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who is serving a life sentence in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Noting that his medical examination report, prepared by a panel of doctors from AIIMS, said he didn’t need hospitalisation, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said the matter will be taken up for hearing in July.

The Bench also refused to grant parole to convicts Balwan Khokhar and Mahender Yadav. While Khokhar is serving a life term, Yadav has been given 10-year imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in the case.

On behalf of Kumar, senior advocate Vikas Singh said he was produced before the AIIMS board and was examined and then he came back to jail.

“After that, he could not be produced in AIIMS due to COVID-19. Tomorrow, if my client dies, his life sentence will automatically get converted to a death sentence,” Singh submitted.

“Don’t say that,” responded the CJI, adding, “At the moment, we don’t want to decide on his bail application.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed Kumar’s plea, saying, “It’s a case genocide and he was leading a mob.”

On behalf of the riot victims, senior advocate HS Phoolka opposed the convicts’ pleas for parole, saying they were not entitled to it under the rules.

Kumar (73)—who sought interim bail on the grounds of his poor health condition—is in jail since December 31, 2018, when he surrendered after being convicted and awarded life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

He has challenged the Delhi High Court’s verdict of December 17 last year that awarded him life imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life” in a case relating the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment’s Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on November 1-2 in 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

In his main petition, he has also sought suspension of sentence and his release on bail.