The Delhi High court today issued notice to newly-elected Congress MP Sajjan Kumar on a criminal revision petition filed against his acquittal in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Notice was issued to Sajjan Kumar who won from Outer Delhi parliamentary constituency, by a bench comprising Justice D.K. Jain and Justice A.K. Sikri. The bench sought reply from the senior Congress leader and fixed the next date of hearing for July 17.
Meanwhile, the CBI today filed its reply to explain the nine-day delay in challenging the trial court order acquitting Kumar and others in the case. The court earlier had issued notices on this and today listed it for arguments on July 17.
Earlier, during the last hearing, the Additional Solicitor General K.K. Sud had informed the court that he would file the affidavit with additional material on the issue.
Sajjan Kumar, along with some local Congress leaders, was tried for allegedly leading a mob that killed and looted Sikhs in West Delhi. Kumar was tried on the basis of a complaint by Anwar Kaur, who in her petition had alleged that Kumar had led the mob which killed her husband Navin Singh at Sultanpuri.
Additional Sessions Judge Manju Goel on December 23, 2002 had acquitted Kumar, ruling that CBI had failed to prove charges that he actually led the mob which killed about 50 Sikhs in Outer Delhi. The anti-Sikh riots broke out in an aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
The CBI has challenged his acquittal stating that the trial court erred in acquitting the accused as it considered statements of prosecution witnesses before various inquiry commissions. Apart from the CBI revision, petitions have also been filed by the witnesses in the case, Salawati Kaur and Fota Singh. The High Court has already summoned the trial court records in the case.
The appeals filed by eight riot victims and the Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) against the acquittals will also be taken up along with the CBI’s appeal.
The appeals challenged Kumar’s acquittal and nine others in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot case.