New Delhi: Following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards, the Sikh community became a target of communal violence. Mobs went around Delhi killing 2,733 Sikhs over the next four days. A total of 3,350 Sikhs were killed across the country, as per official figures.
Delhi Cantonment, one of the 21 assembly segments that constituted Outer Delhi, which was then represented by Sajjan Kumar as MP, witnessed widespread violence. As many as 341 Sikhs were killed there. Of these, five Sikhs were killed in Raj Nagar Part I area of Palam Colony. Kumar’s conviction by the Delhi high court has come in the case related to their killing and the burning down of a gurdwara there.
This violence took place on November 1-2. Those killed in the violence were Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh – who all belonged to the same family.
Credit: Mika
Three witnesses stood firm
There were three main eyewitnesses in the case. One of them was Jagdish Kaur, whose husband Kehar, 18-year-old son Gurpreet and three cousins were killed. The other two witnesses were Jagsher Singh, a cousin of Jagdish Kaur, and Nirpreet Kaur, who saw the gurdwara being burnt down and her father being burnt alive by the raging mobs.
These witnesses, however, deposed only after the case was handed to the Central Bureau of Investigation and stood firm all along.
The FIR in the case (No. 416/1984) was registered on the complaint of one Daljit Kaur, who narrated how 400-500 people attacked her house on November 1 in which her parents were injured. Then there was another attack on November 2, in which her father was set afire by the mob. However, the investigation into the case remained inconclusive.
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On March 25, 1985, five chargesheets were filed by the Delhi Police based on the statement of Daljit Kaur. Thereafter, several committees and commissions looked into these cases but nothing happened for nearly 21 years. It was only after the Justice Nanavati Commission, constituted in May 2000, submitted its report in February 2005 that Sajjan Kumar’s name first cropped up officially.
On Sajjan Kumar’s case, the Nanavati Commission said, “Many witnesses have stated about the involvement” of Kumar in the riots “in areas like Palam Colony, Tilak Vihar, Raj Nagar, etc.”
‘Police didn’t record complaints’
The panel report said: “It was alleged that the mobs indulging in riots were led by Shri Sajjan Kumar and Shri Balwan Khokhar and other Congress leaders. Police did not even record the complaints of the victims/witnesses against them. Instead complaints of losses were recorded by the police.”
In her deposition, Jagdish Kaur also stated that she was a witness to Kumar addressing a meeting of his following at around 10 am on November 2 near Manglapuri Mandir police post where he exhorted them to not leave any Sikh alive and to kill even those who had given shelter to them. “Sikh sala ek nahi bachna chahiyen, jo hindu bhai unko sharan de uska ghar bhi jala do aur unko bhi maro” (No Sikh should be spared, also burn down the houses of Hindus giving shelter to them) was what Sajjan Kumar said, Kaur told the panel.
Case handed over to CBI in 2010
Subsequently, the Nanavati panel concluded that there was credible material against Kumar. It recommended to the Centre to examine all such cases where “witnesses had accused Sajjan Kumar specifically and yet no chargesheet was filed against him”.
After considering the Nanavati findings, the Centre on October 24, 2005 directed the CBI to investigate and re-investigate the cases against Kumar, including the FIR that was filed in 1984 by Daljit Kaur.
The CBI chargesheet while quoting a witness, said there was an unlawful assembly of around 2,000 persons in Raj Nagar, Palam Colony at around 7 am on November 1, 1984 with the intention to kill the Sikhs and loot, damage, and burn their properties. The mob was armed with guns, jellies, iron rods and lathis. It attacked the Raj Nagar gurdwara and set it on fire. Then it burnt the houses and vehicles of Sikhs.
After providing details of how the five Sikhs were killed, the chargesheet said Kumar arrived at Raj Nagar, in pursuance of the aforementioned common object, at around 10-11 pm on November 1 and again “instigated the mob by exhorting them to not allow any Sikh to go alive and to not spare even Hindus who were providing shelter to Sikhs.”
The CBI stated that “provocative speeches, with common object as aforesaid, made by Sajjan Kumar (A-1) to the mob gathered in Raj Nagar area, promoted immediate and violent enmity amongst the public against Sikhs and disturbed the harmony between the two religious groups/communities of the locality resulting into killing of Sikhs and burning/looting of their houses/properties.”
CBI challenged Kumar’s acquittal saying trial court “erred”
The charges against Sajjan Kumar were framed by the trial court on May 24, 2010. In his order on April 30, 2013, the district and sessions judge convicted five accused, including Congress MLA Mahender Yadav and counsellor Balwan Khokhar who were both sentenced to life. The others convicted by the court were Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal who were all sentenced to three years. in the case Sajjan Kumar, though, was given the benefit of doubt and let off.
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Following the acquittal of Kumar by the lower court, the CBI and the victims filed appeals against the ruling in the Delhi high court. The CBI claimed that the lower court “erred in acquitting Sajjan Kumar as it was he who had instigated the mob during the riots”.
The five convicts also filed appeals against their conviction. All appeals were heard together and the judgment was reserved on October 27 this year.
‘Large-scale efforts to suppress cases against Kumar’
The Delhi high court held that the trial court completely omitted to address the charge of conspiracy which was detailed by the CBI. With reference to Kumar, it said in its order, “This was an extraordinary case where it was going to be impossible to proceed against” Kumar in the “normal scheme of things because there appeared to be ongoing large-scale efforts to suppress the cases against him by not even recording or registering them”.
It thus convicted him for criminal conspiracy along with other sections, including murder, and for the offence of delivering provocative speeches instigating violence against Sikhs. The court finally ordered him to undergo life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life.