New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Tuesday sentenced former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of two Sikh men in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar during the anti-Sikh riots in November 1984.
In a 22-page ruling, the Rouse Avenue Court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the offence of murder committed as part of an unlawful assembly. “For the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC r/w Section 149 IPC, the above-named Convict is directed to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for life in addition to payment of fine of Rupees One Lakh. In default of payment of fine, he shall undergo Simple Imprisonment for 02 years,” additional sessions judge Kaveri Baweja said in the order.
Additionally, the court also directed payment of compensation to the victims’ families while acknowledging that, after 41 years of the incident, any amount of monetary relief “may be wholly inadequate” to compensate for the pain and suffering of the survivors in this case.
“I recommend payment of such compensation to these victims as per provisions of Section 396 BNSS (Section 357A Cr.PC) under the Victim Compensation Scheme, as the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) may, after due enquiry, deem adequate,” the court said.
Section 396 (victim compensation scheme) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS)—similar to Section 357A of the erstwhile Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc)—allows state governments to prepare a scheme in coordination with the Centre for providing funds for compensation to the victim or his dependants who have suffered loss or injury as a result of a crime and require rehabilitation.
The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi convicted Kumar on 12 February, finding him guilty of offences like murder, rioting, rioting while being armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, attempt to commit culpable homicide, dacoity, attempt to murder, and causing grievous hurt and mischief, among others.
In November 1984, Delhi witnessed widespread anti-Sikh riots across the country, following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. In its wake, thousands of Sikhs were killed, their houses and shops burnt, and their belongings looted.
One such case was that of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh, both residents of Raj Nagar locality in Saraswati Vihar, where an unruly mob led by accused Sajjan Kumar, burnt them alive, damaged and looted their household articles and burnt down their house while inflicting injuries on their family members on 1 November 1984, according to the prosecution.
The case against Kumar was led by Senior Advocate H.S. Phoolka, along with advocates Kamna Vohra and Gurbaksh Singh, representing the two victims.
Kumar has already been behind bars for six years without bail or suspension of his sentence. This is because he is serving a life term in another 1984 case for burning a gurdwara and killing five Sikhs in Raj Nagar.
Speaking to ThePrint, Pappi Kaur, who lost several family members in the riots, said that Sajjan Singh should have been awarded the death penalty.
“Kumar was already serving the sentence of life imprisonment. Each household lost 8-10 members during the riots. As for me, I lost my elder brother who was 18 at the time. I saw him being burnt to death. I will never forget that day. Apart from this I lost two of my uncles as well. Our daughters were raped.”
“It’s been 40 years, we have been screaming for justice at the top of our voices. He should be hanged to death so that no one even thinks of doing this again,” she said.
Also Read: Sajjan Kumar, the powerful Jat leader who remained untouched by 1984 riots for 25 years
What the ruling said
In its ruling Tuesday, the Rouse Avenue Court also sentenced Kumar to an additional 2 years and 3 of rigorous imprisonment for the offences of rioting and rioting while armed with a deadly weapon. It imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for each offence. In both cases, defaulting on the fine will entail a further 3 months of imprisonment.
On the offences of attempting to commit culpable homicide and voluntarily causing hurt, he was sentenced to 7 years and 1 year of rigorous imprisonment, respectively. He was fined Rs 10,000 each for both cases and defaulting would be punishable with another 2 years and six months of imprisonment for him, respectively.
For the offences of dacoity, robbery or dacoity with the intent to cause death or grievous hurt, and mischief causing damage of at least Rs 50, he was sentenced to 10 years, 7 years, and 2 years in jail, respectively, along with fines ranging from 10,000 rupees to 5,000 rupees.
Besides this, he was also sentenced for the offence of causing mischief by fire or explosives to destroy a building, and mischief committed after preparation made for causing death or hurt, with life imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment for 5 years, respectively. In addition to this, he must also pay Rs 1 lakh rupees and 5,000 rupees as a fine, for both offences.
The factors the court looked at
The Rouse Avenue Court took into consideration certain aggravating circumstances, which are factors that increase the severity of an act, and usually lead to a harsher punishment for the accused.
These included the murder of two innocent people by burning them in front of their family members, inflicting injuries and continuing trauma on the survivors, and destroying their houses and belongings while being part of a rioting mob. It also took into consideration his other conviction in the murder of 5 people by a mob led by him.
However, it also looked at mitigating factors that lessen the severity of an act or the actor’s culpability and must be kept in mind and balanced accordingly. These included the fact that he is 80 years old and suffering from hypertension, lumbar spondylitis, Parkinson’s disease, and weight loss, among other issues. Besides this, it also noted that he is undergoing life imprisonment for the rest of his life as directed by the Delhi High Court in 2018 in Sajjan Kumar vs State.
The Rouse Avenue Court noted that the Supreme Court, in a number of cases, has said that the death penalty must be awarded only in the “rarest of rare cases”. For instance, in the 1980 Bachan Singh vs. State of Punjab ruling, the Supreme Court said that the extreme death penalty should only be imposed in the gravest cases of extreme culpability. It also added that before opting for the death penalty, an offender’s circumstances need to be considered along with the circumstances surrounding the crime.
Making a note of this, the Rouse Avenue Court added that the death penalty is an exception, while life imprisonment is the general rule.
“The facts of the present case reveal that the offences proved to have been committed by the above-named Convict are undoubtedly brutal and reprehensible. At the same time, there are certain mitigating factors which, in my opinion, weigh in favour of imposing a lesser sentence, instead of the death penalty.”
“The ‘satisfactory’ conduct of the Convict as per the report of the Jail Authorities, the ailments from which he is reportedly suffering, the fact that the Convict has roots in the society and the possibility of his reformation and rehabilitation are material considerations which, in my opinion, tilt the scales in favour of sentence for life imprisonment instead of death penalty,” it added.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Very glad to see justice being served for the ghastly 1984 riots. Those who engineered these riots must be properly convicted.
One hopes that similar actions are taken for those who engineered the other terrible riots that happend in the courty including the 2002 Gujarat and the 202 Delhi riots.
The political class should know unequivocally that setting humans against each other in the name ot religion and ideology will have consequences for them.