Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sept 6: A special court in Delhi on Saturday allowed former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to summon a journalist as a defence witness in a case linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in West Delhi's Vikaspuri. The court scheduled the next hearing and the journalist's deposition for September 16.
Special Judge Digvinay Singh, presiding at the Rouse Avenue Court, approved the request as part of Kumar’s defence strategy in the decades-old communal violence case. The 77-year-old politician has maintained that the charges against him are baseless and politically driven.
Earlier, the court recorded Kumar’s personal statement, in which he denied any role in the violence. He asserted that he was being falsely implicated and was never involved in the attacks.
“I am innocent. I was never involved in this crime—not even in my dreams. There is no iota of evidence against me,” Kumar told the court. “Initially, I was not even named by any witness. Decades later, my name surfaced. This case is completely politically motivated.”
Kumar stands accused of involvement in the killings of Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh in Delhi’s Janakpuri, as well as the alleged immolation of Gurcharan Singh in Vikaspuri during the riots.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots erupted across India following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. The violence left thousands dead, particularly in Delhi, and is widely regarded as one of the darkest chapters in India’s recent history.
To address long-standing demands for justice, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed years later based on the recommendations of the Justice G.P. Mathur Committee, tasked with reopening 114 closed cases.
In August 2023, a Delhi trial court formally framed multiple charges against Sajjan Kumar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. However, the murder charge under Section 302 was dropped at that stage, despite having previously been applied by the SIT.
Notably, in an earlier and separate case, Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2025 for his role in the murders of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984. The SIT concluded that Kumar had led a mob that, incited by him, burned the two victims alive, looted and destroyed their property, and injured other family members present at the scene.
The Sikh community continues to demand the harshest punishment for Kumar, describing the 1984 riots as “one of the darkest and most shameful” episodes in India’s history, and urging the court to award him the death penalty.