The Delhi High Court yesterday jailed for life Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for his role in anti-Sikh riots that erupted after the 1984 murder of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi and killed nearly 3,000 people.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hailed the conviction of the former MP as a confirmation of justice, just months before a general election when it will face off against the Congress.
Anti-Sikh riots broke out in Delhi after the assassination of Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.
Most of those killed in one of India’s bloodiest outbreaks of rioting were Sikhs.
At the time, Congress supporters were widely suspected of egging on the mobs.
The court found Kumar, 73, guilty in the killing of five members of a family in the Indian capital and sentenced him to jail “for the remainder of his natural life,” lawyer H S Phoolka, who represented the victims, told reporters.
The judges cancelled a lower court ruling from 2013 which acquitted Kumar of charges of murder and instigating mobs in the riots.
“It is important to assure those countless victims waiting patiently that despite the challenges, truth will prevail and justice will be done,” the court said in its judgement, referring to Jagdish Kaur, whose husband, sons and three cousins were the five killed and who fought for action against Kumar.
“The aftershocks of those atrocities are still being felt,” the court observed in its 207-page order, referring to the mass killings as a “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”.
Although many witnesses and survivors testified that Congress leaders incited mobs and targeted Sikhs, Kumar is the the first top leader from the party to have been convicted in the over three-decade long case.
“In the summer of 1947, during the partition of India the country witnessed horrific mass crimes where hundreds of thousands civilians were massacred. Thirty-seven years later, the country was again witness to another enormous human tragedy,” the judges said.
“The criminals enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement agency,” the court noted, adding there was an “abject police failure” in the cases.
It said the trial court had erred in acquitting Sajjan Kumar as he instigated the mobs.
Jagdish Kaur and Nirpreet Kaur, whose father was burnt alive, wept as the verdict was announced.
“I have got justice after 34 years. But we are not satisfied, other guilty Congress leaders must also be punished,” Nirpreet Kaur told reporters.
“I heard Sajjan Kumar giving speeches and inciting mobs that not a single Sikh behind Gandhi’s killing be left alive. There were false cases lodged against me. My mother also wasn’t spared and had to spend three years in jail. My life became hell since then”.
The court ordered him to surrender by December 31.
Kumar, who pleaded not guilty, was not available for comment.
His lawyers said they would appeal the conviction in the Supreme Court.
Gandhi’s assassination was in revenge for her decision to send the army in against Sikh separatist militants holed up in the Golden Temple - Sikhism’s holiest shrine - in the northern city of Amritsar.
Hundreds of people were killed in the army assault, including the leader of Sikh militants, and the temple was badly damaged.
The court convicted the Congress leader under various counts of Indian Penal Code (IPC) including murder, criminal conspiracy, delivering provocative speeches instigating violence against Sikhs, mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house and injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had filed an appeal challenging the acquittal of Kumar and said that the trial court “erred in acquitting Sajjan Kumar as it was he who had instigated the mob during the riots”.