Prosecution seeks death for Sajjan in ’84 case

The prosecution on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which he was found guilty of murdering a father-son duo in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar area.

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Terming it a rarest-of-rare case, Additional Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat, in his written submissions, said the convict deserved to be awarded the death penalty. The lawyer for the victims also sought the capital punishment for Kumar (79), who is already serving life imprisonment in a related anti-Sikh riots case.

Asking the convict and the victims to file their written submissions, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja posted the matter for arguments on quantum of sentence on February 21. The defence counsel couldn’t appear because of lawyers’ strike.

While convicting Kumar, Baweja had on February 12 said, “In the light of… the evidence on record considered in its totality, I am of the opinion that the prosecution has been able to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.” Besides murder, Kumar has been convicted of rioting, dacoity, attempting to cause death or grievous hurt and burning the victim’s house as a member of an unlawful assembly.

Around 3,000 persons, mostly Sikhs, were killed in the anti-Sikh riots that broke out following the assassination of the then PM Indira Gandhi.

The case related to the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984. Kumar has been in jail since December 31, 2018, when he surrendered after being convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in a case relating to 1984 anti-Sikh riots.