SC denies bail to Delhi Sikh riots convict and ex-Congress leader Sajjan Kumar

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy issued a notice to the CBI on Kumar’s plea and asked it to file an affidavit within a week after verifying his medical condition, reports PTI.

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of Delhi Sikh riots convict and former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar after noting that his medical condition is stable and improving. The top court on August 24 directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify the medical condition of Kumar, who is serving life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and is seeking interim bail on health grounds.

he top court on August 24 directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to verify the medical condition of Kumar, who is serving life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and is seeking interim bail on health grounds.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Hrishikesh Roy issued a notice to the CBI on Kumar’s plea and asked it to file an affidavit within a week after verifying his medical condition, reports PTI.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the complainant in the matter, said that Kumar got anticipatory bail from the Delhi High Court in 2010 and he was sent to jail only after his conviction. “This is shocking,” he informed the bench, adding that people were slaughtered during the riots. “I have serious reservation about private hospitals and these powerful accused,” Dave said, adding that the top court in September last year dismissed Kumar's plea seeking interim bail on health grounds.

The Delhi High Court reversed the acquittal of Kumar by the trial court in 2013 in the case related to the killings of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. The riots broke out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards.

In its verdict, the high court convicted and sentenced Kumar to imprisonment for the "remainder of his natural life" in the case, saying the riots were a "crime against humanity" perpetrated by those who enjoyed "political patronage" and aided by an "indifferent" law enforcement agency.