Sajjan Kumar is serving a life sentence after being convicted in the 1984 anti-Sikh case
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has denied bail to former congressional deputy Sajjan Kumar, who is serving a life sentence after being convicted in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
“It is not a small case. We cannot post bail,” a three-judge bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said of Kumar’s bail request.
The Supreme Court said the former congressman cannot stay in the hospital when his medical reports say there is no need for hospitalization.
The court said it will hear his appeal against his conviction and life imprisonment once the physical courts begin operating. For now, the courts are conducting a process via videoconference due to the coronavirus crisis.
Kumar submitted the bond statement citing medical needs.
The former leader of Congress was convicted of the murder of five family members in Delhi’s Raj Nagar and of setting fire to a gurdwara on November 1, 1984. At the time he was the parliamentarian for that area.
The Delhi High Court had canceled an earlier court order acquitting him of charges in what the judges called “genocide.” “It is important to assure victims that despite the challenges, the truth will prevail,” the court had said.
Kumar was in Congress for more than four decades. In recent years, the party had sidelined him over accusations that he had led bloodthirsty mobs against Sikhs in Delhi after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. At least 3,000 people died in the riots over the next four days.
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