Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, Jan 22: A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in which he was accused of inciting violence in the Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas.
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh pronounced the acquittal, though the detailed, reasoned order is yet to be released.
The case was based on two FIRs registered by a special investigation team in February 2015. The first FIR pertained to the killing of Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh in Janakpuri on November 1, 1984, while the second involved the death of Gurcharan Singh, allegedly set on fire in Vikaspuri on November 2, 1984.
Charges of rioting and promoting enmity were framed against Kumar in August 2023, while murder and criminal conspiracy charges were dropped.
Despite Thursday’s acquittal, Kumar remains in prison. On February 25, 2025, a trial court had sentenced him to life imprisonment for the killings of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar, Delhi, during the riots. The court had ruled that although the crime was grave, it did not merit the death penalty.
The Saraswati Vihar case was part of a continuing pattern of violence for which Kumar had earlier been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court on December 17, 2018, for the deaths of five people in Palam Colony following former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
According to the Nanavati Commission report, 587 FIRs were registered in Delhi in connection with the 1984 riots, which claimed 2,733 lives. Around 240 cases were closed as “untraced,” 250 ended in acquittals, and only 28 FIRs led to convictions, resulting in roughly 400 people being convicted, including about 50 individuals for murder.
Kumar’s appeal against his life sentence in the Palam Colony case is currently pending before the Supreme Court.