A Special Court on Wednesday convicted Congress politician Sajjan Kumar in a case related to the murder of a father-son duo during 1984 anti-Sikh riots [State v. Sajjan Kumar]..Special Judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order this afternoon and posted the case for arguments on sentence on February 18.The Court said Kumar was instigating the mob, which was armed with deadly weapons like lathis and sarias. The prosecution has been able to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt, it added. "Accused Sajjan Kumar, being a member of such unlawful assembly, is guilty of having committed the murder of S. Jaswant Singh and S.Tarundeep Singh, the husband and son of the Complainant PW-13, during the incident of rioting which occurred on 01.11.1984," the Court held..Charges for offences under Sections 302 (murder),147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 308 ( attempt to culpable homicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 395 (dacoity) apart from other charges had been framed against Kumar in 2021..As per the prosecution, on November 1, 1984, S Jaswant Singh and his son S Tarun Deep Singh, residents of Raj Nagar in West Delhi, were killed by a mob led by Kumar comprising thousands.The first information report (FIR) in the case was registered on the basis of an affidavit of September 9, 1985, of the complainant, whose identity was kept concealed.In 2015, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reinvestigate the cases of 1984 riots following which the complainant in the case recorded her statement on November 23, 2016..Kumar was arrested in the case on April 6, 2021 while he was lodged in Tihar Jail undergoing his life sentence in another case related to the 1984 riots.The prosecution alleged that Kumar was leading a mob and instigated the unlawful assembly to resort to "large-scale rioting, arson and looting”..[Read Judgment]
