Supreme Court refuses interim bail to Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider interim bail on the medical ground to ex-Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who has been serving a life term in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The CBI led by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the plea saying he was involved in the genocide and leading the mob.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice S A Bobde said the March 11 medical report of the petitioner does not suggest he required hospitalisation.

Kumar, represented by senior advocate Vikas Singh, claimed that his life term would be converted to the death penalty if he died. He was suffering from several ailments and he could not be examined by the AIIMS board due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Senior advocates Dushyant Dave and H S Phoolka appeared for the victims during the hearing conducted through video conferencing from the CJI's courtroom.

The court said it will keep Kumar's bail plea pending for consideration in August.

The court also dismissed the plea for parole made by co convicts ex MLA Mahinder Yadav and Balwan Khokhar.

Kumar has been in jail here after the Delhi High Court had on December 17, 2018, awarded him life imprisonment for the "remainder of his natural life". The riots case related to the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on November 1 and 2, 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.