A Supreme Court judge on Monday recused himself from hearing the appeal of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar against his sentencing in a case of 1984 anti-Sikh violence, ANI reported. Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who was part of the bench set to hear the life convict’s plea, recused himself.
The matter will now be listed before another bench of the Supreme Court for a detailed hearing.
In December last year, the Delhi High Court had sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment and held him guilty of murder, promoting enmity between groups, and defiling public property. The Delhi High Court’s verdict had reversed a lower court’s 2013 judgement acquitting Kumar. Kumar was sent to jail after he surrendered before a trial court on December 31.
After his conviction, Kumar had resigned from the Congress party and had also moved an appeal in the top court.
The violence against Sikhs in early November 1984 had followed the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The case in which Kumar was convicted is related 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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