New Delhi: The CBI on Tuesday sought capital punishment for former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a murder case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, calling it a "rarest of rare" crime. The special judge of Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, Kaveri Baweja, was informed about the contention in a written submission filed by the prosecution.
The minimum punishment for murder is life imprisonment. The judge deferred the matter to February 21 after Kumar's counsel sought time to argue the matter, saying lawyers were abstaining from work on Tuesday in protest of the Advocate Amendment Bill, 2025.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka for the complainant supported the prosecution's demand for the death penalty and sought time for argument. Kumar is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
The case relates to the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son, Tarundeep Singh, on November 1, 1984. Though the Punjabi Bagh Police Station registered the case, a special investigation team took over the investigation later. On December 16, 2021, the court framed charges against Kumar, finding a prima facie case against him.
The prosecution has alleged a huge mob, armed with deadly weapons, resorted to large-scale looting, arson and destruction of properties of Sikh community members to avenge the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The mob attacked the house of the complainant, wife of Jaswant, killing the men aside from looting articles and setting their house on fire, the prosecution claimed.
According to a report of the Nanavati Commission, formed to probe the violence and its aftermath, there were 587 FIRs filed in Delhi about the riots that claimed 2,733 lives. About 240 FIRs were closed by police as "untraced" and 250 cases resulted in acquittal. Only 28 FIRs resulted in the convictions of 400 persons of which 50 were convicted of murder, including Kumar.
Kumar, an influential Congress leader and an MP at the time, was accused in a case over the killings of five persons in Delhi's Palam Colony on November 1 and 2, 1984. He was awarded life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court and his appeal, challenging the punishment, is pending with the Supreme Court.
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