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'I saw my father ablaze': 1984 riots victim families crestfallen after Sajjan acquittal
Court said prosecution had failed to prove charges beyond reasonable doubt, judge said court understood the trauma but decision had to be “sans emotions”
A woman who watched her father being set on fire; a wife widowed in her youth; and a man who lost his loved ones in the 1984 riots, all stood outside a Delhi court on Thursday as the verdict on former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar's alleged involvement came in. He was acquitted in the case. For families of those killed in Delhi's Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the weight of their grief of four decades turned heavier.
"My father was burnt alive before my eyes, and I have spent 42 years moving from one court to another, clinging to the belief that justice would one day arrive," Nirmal Kaur told news agency PTI. She had tears rolling down her face.
She said her family never recovered from that day. "I was destroyed, and every good thing in my life was taken away," she said.
Despite acquittal in this case, Sajjan Kumar remains in prison serving life imprisonment in another 1984 case.
Beside Nirmal Kaur stood another woman, who did not want to speak at first, her voice shaking with rage and despair. She then said the man she held responsible, Sajjan Kumar, must be punished and hanged. She warned that if that did not happen the families would remain outside the court, “even if it means dying here”. The families have nothing left to lose, she added.
Wazir Singh, another family member of a victim, said of Sajjan Kumar: “He was responsible for the killing of thousands of Sikhs, and families like mine have spent their entire lives moving in and out of courtrooms.”
He said they were ready to appeal to the high court and even the Supreme Court.
Another victim's kin, Bagi Kaur, said the memories of those riots — triggered after the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards over military action at Golden Temple and other parts of Punjab — are vivid still.
"Ten members of my family were killed. I vividly remember that during the riots the roads were littered with corpses. One had to jump over dead bodies to cross the road," she said.
She said she never missed a court hearing. "Our pain has now been completely disregarded. Satwant Singh (Indira Gandhi's assassin) the was hanged; then why is the man responsible for the deaths of about a thousand people still alive?" Kaur said.
What court said on Sajjan Kumar's acquittal
The court said the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh underlined that though the court understood the trauma suffered by the victims and their families, its decision had to be "sans emotions".
"The finding of guilt of the accused in this case must be solely judged based on the evidence led in the present matter. Unfortunately, most of the witnesses examined by the prosecution in this case are hearsay, and/or those witnesses who failed to name the accused for three long decades," the judge said.
He said relying on the identification of the accused by such witnesses "would be risky and may lead to a travesty".
The judge said there was no reliable evidence that Kumar was present at the crime scene or that he was seen there by anyone. There was also no evidence of instigating any riotous mob or of conspiracy regarding the alleged incident, he added.
In the 60-page order, the court said, "Sum and substance is that the prosecution has not met its burden of proof against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, which is essential for conviction in a criminal trial."
"Resultantly, because of a lack of credible evidence as to the presence of the accused in the crime in question or a part of the unlawful assembly or his involvement in any manner, either through instigation, conspiracy, or abetment of any other nature, he is acquitted of the charges," it said.
Sajjan Kumar is serving life imprisonment since February 25 last year awarded by a trial court in a case regarding the killings of two Sikh men on November 1, 1984, in the Saraswati Vihar area of Delhi.
