1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Delhi HC To Hear Sajjan Kumar's Plea Against Conviction Tomorrow

Last Updated:October 16, 2025, 21:48 IST

The high court had overturned a 2010 trial court verdict that had acquitted Kumar, and instead sentenced him to life in prison for the remainder of his natural life

Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar. (PTI file photo)

The Delhi High Court will on Friday hear former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar’s appeal challenging his conviction and life sentence in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Kumar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018, had been found guilty in connection with the killing of two people, Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh, in the Saraswati Vihar area of Delhi on 1 November 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The high court had overturned a 2010 trial court verdict that had acquitted Kumar, and instead sentenced him to life in prison for the remainder of his natural life. He was convicted for criminal conspiracy, abetment to murder, promoting enmity between communities, and destruction of a Gurdwara. Following his conviction, Kumar resigned from the Congress party and surrendered before a Delhi court on 31 December 2018.

The high court, in its ruling, described the 1984 riots as a “carnage of unbelievable proportions", stating that over 2,700 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone. It called the violence a “crime against humanity", carried out by those who enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement system.

Kumar’s plea in the Delhi High Court comes after the Supreme Court last month said it would also hear his challenge to the conviction after the Diwali break. The apex court’s vacation starts on October 20 and it resumes work on October 27.

During the top court’s hearing, a bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi asked both sides to clarify the allegations, the testimony of key witnesses, and how the high court had come to overturn the trial court’s earlier acquittal.

(With inputs from PTI)

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