Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar surrendered before the Karkardooma Court in Delhi to serve out his life sentence.
Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on Monday surrendered before a Delhi court to serve life sentence in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which he was convicted by the Delhi High Court.
He surrendered before Metropolitan Magistrate Aditi Garg.
The 73-year-old former Congress leader was sentenced to life for the “remainder of his natural life” by the Delhi High Court on December 17. It had set a deadline of December 31 for Kumar to surrender.
The high court had on December 21 declined his plea to extend the time of his surrender by a month.
Also read: Sajjan Kumar, the powerful Jat leader who remained untouched by 1984 riots for 25 years
Kumar was convicted for the killing of five members of a family in Raj Nagar in Delhi on 1 November 1984 after riots had broken out following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards.
At least 3,000 people were killed as mobs, allegedly led by Congress leaders, targeted Sikhs.
A day after the conviction, Sajjan Kumar resigned from the Congress. He later filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the conviction and the life sentence awarded by the high court.
1. First day of the New Year is not a good day to write about ugly, violent events of the past. But manner in which former Congress MP misused all his political connections and prevailing legal system to remain free for as many as 34 years after innocent Sikhs were mercilessly killed in Delhi and other places is a sad reminder of flaws in our police administration and legal framework. 2. It has been pointed by legal fraternity that Justice Ranganath Misra Commission (which was entrusted with job of fact finding regarding the anti-Sikh riots) did not do its job in an unbiased and professional manner. In fact there was suppression of facts by the Ranganath Misra Commission. 3. It is a matter of national shame that all these facts had been buried in dirty politics of the Congress party. Now that former MP Sajjan Kumar has surrendered after he was awarded life imprisonment, we citizens should not lose sight of facts. 3. Is there a guarantee that Sajjan Kumar will not get a stay of the High Court order of life imprisonment in the Supreme Court? 4. We as citizens wish to know from legal experts who are not attached to any legal party what needs to be done urgently to ensure that no criminal case, particularly against a politician, drags on and on for years, making a mockery of our judicial system. 5. Incidentally, I wish to say that the way our politicians work, our Courts work, our judicial system works, and way we citizens react to delays in judicial processes, I think are all matters of disgrace. What do we wish to do to save our democracy from adverse impact of such delay?