1984 riots case: Sajjan Kumar surrenders before Delhi's Karkardooma court

The 73-year-old former Congress leader was sentenced to life for the "remainder of his natural life" by the Delhi High Court on December 17 in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

New Delhi: Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar surrendered before a Delhi court on Monday to undergo life imprisonment awarded to him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case as the Delhi High Court rejected his plea to extend the deadline for surrender. This comes after 2 other accused  Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar surrendered before court and the court accepted their surrender application. Mahender Yadav has been allowed to carry his walking stick and spectacles by the Court. Kumar's lawyer said options are running out for him as the Supreme Court is not likely to grant hearing to his appeal against the high court verdict during the vacation, which is ending on January 1. "We will comply with the high court's judgment," his counsel Anil Kumar Sharma said. The 73-year-old former Congress leader was sentenced to life for the "remainder of his natural life" by the Delhi High Court on December 17 in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. In its judgement, the high court had noted that over 2,700 Sikhs were killed in the national capital during the 1984 riots which was indeed” carnage of unbelievable proportions". It also said riots were a "crime against humanity" perpetrated by those who enjoyed "political patronage" and aided by an "indifferent" law enforcement agency. The court had further said that there has been a familiar pattern of  mass killings since the Partition, like in Mumbai in 1993, Gujarat in 2002 and Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in 2013, and the "common" feature of each was the "targeting of minorities" with the attacks being "spearheaded by the dominant political  actors, facilitated by the law enforcement agencies". The case in which Kumar was convicted and sentenced related to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II. The riots had broken out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards. The high court had on December 21 rejected Kumar's plea seeking extension till January 30 to surrender. The former Congress leader had sought more time to surrender, saying he had to settle the family affairs related to his children and property and also needs time to file appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.