1984 riots: SC to hear Sajjan Kumar's plea in July

The Supreme Court on Monday deferred to July the hearing on petitions filed by former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar challenging the life sentence awarded to them and seeking suspension of the sentence.

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A Bench led by Justice JK Maheshwari, however, clarified that “if the final hearing is not possible, the petitioner would be at liberty to make mention of the grant of prayer to suspend the sentence." The Bench – which also included Justice Aravind Kumar -- summoned the trial court records and directed that the same be supplied to all parties concerned.

On behalf of the victim, senior counsel HS Phoolka said the case related to the murder of five Sikhs, but in fact around 350 Sikhs were killed in the area during the 1984 riots. Besides Khokhar and Kumar, who are serving a life term in the case, ex-MLA Mahender Yadav was awarded a 10-year sentence. Yadav died in Mandoli jail during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kumar and Khokhar are lodged in Tihar jail since their conviction on December 17, 2018. Khokhar’s life sentence was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2018, while it overturned Kumar's acquittal by the trial court in 2013. The case relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. Khokhar has challenged the high court order dated December 17, 2018. He has claimed that he is a senior citizen of 66 years of age and physically handicapped with 54 per cent permanent disability in the lower limb and suffering from various ailments like diabetes, hypertension, among others.