The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Delhi government to seek its response to an appeal by former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar against his sentencing in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, Bar and Bench reported. The court posted the matter for hearing after six weeks.
Last month, the Delhi High Court had found the 73-year-old guilty of murder, promoting enmity between groups, and defiling public property. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment. The judgement had reversed a lower court’s verdict acquitting Kumar in 2013.
After his conviction, Kumar had resigned from the Congress party and had also moved an appeal in the top court. Kumar was sent to jail after he surrendered before a trial court on December 31.
The violence against Sikhs in early November 1984 had followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The case in which Kumar was convicted relates to the murder of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment’s Raj Nagar Part-I area and arson at a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.
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