1984 anti-Sikh riots: SC agrees to consider Sajjan Kumar's bail plea

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the bail plea of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, sentenced for life by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shekhar Naphade that the bail plea of Kumar be accorded urgent hearing. "We will see to it," the bench said when lawyers for Kumar prayed for urgent listing of the bail application. This comes after former Congress leader had moved the top court challenging the conviction and award of life imprisonment by the high court.

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CBI sought dismissal of his bail plea

The CBI on March 15 told the Supreme Court that Sajjan Kumar's plea challenging the life term awarded to him by the Delhi High Court in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case should be dismissed. The probe agency in its reply on Sajjan Kumar's plea seeking bail said he has a "large political clout" and is capable of "influencing or terrorising" witnesses in the case pending against him. It told the apex court said that fair trial in the pending case would not be possible if Kumar is granted bail.

READ: 1984 anti-Sikh riots case: CBI seeks dismissal of Sajjan Kumar's plea in Supreme Court

Sajjan Kumar accused in 1984 Anti-Sikh riots

Sajjan Kumar, 73, who is lodged in jail, had resigned from the Congress party after he was convicted by the high court. The case in which he was convicted and sentenced relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on November 1-2 in 1984, and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. Anti-Sikh riots had broken out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards. The Delhi High Court in its December 17 verdict last year awarded him life imprisonment for the "remainder of his natural life" in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. It charged Kumar with offences of criminal conspiracy and abetment in commission of crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony and defiling and destruction of a gurudwara.

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