Sajjan terms '84 riots cases against him as unconstitutional

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar today told a Delhi court that the registration of an FIR by the CBI against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases was violative of Constitutional provisions as those had already been probed by the Delhi police.

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on Wednesday told a Delhi court that the registration of an FIR by the CBI against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases was violative of Constitutional provisions as those had already been probed by the Delhi police.

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"Registration of an FIR by the CBI in the matters, which were already pending before a Delhi court and in which Delhi police had filed the cancellation report, was illegal, unfair, unconstitutional, improper and unheard of in the statutes," advocate I U Khan submitted before Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta.

Khan was putting forth arguments on behalf of the former outer Delhi MP on framing of charges in connection with the killing of five persons in Delhi Cantonment area in the riots that took place in the aftermath of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.

Khan argued re-registration of the cases by the CBI in 2005 on the recommendation of Nanavati Commission report was not within the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and even no permission from a court was taken by the probe agency in this regard.

During a two-hour argument, Khan also termed the report of Nanavati Commission, which had inquired into the 1984 riots, as politically motivated.

The counsel also questioned the credibility of the statement of witness Jagdish Kaur, whose relatives were killed in the riots, claiming she did not name Kumar before Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission in 1985 and Jain -Banerjee Commission in 1987.