New Delhi: A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, refused to grant bail to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, sentenced for life by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, on medical grounds. The bench said that they will take up the matter in July.
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Kumar, said that there are health issues and it could be a question of cancer. After he was examined at AIIMS he was brought back to jail and then due to COVID-19 he could not be produced again, said Singh.
Read: Anti-Sikh riots case: SC seeks report of Sajjan Kumar's health condition
Advocate Singh contended that if tomorrow Kumar dies it will be an automatic death sentence. "My life sentence has been converted into death penalty," said Singh.
CJI objecting to the bail plea said that the medical reports which have come up state that Kumar doesn't need any medical hospitalisation and the court is inclined to keep the bail matter pending.
SG Tushar Mehta and Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave also objected to the plea. Mehta said that this is a case of genocide, he should not be granted bail.
The Supreme Court refused to entertain and adjourned the matter for July.
Kumar was awarded life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court on December 17, 2018. 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 on November 1-2 in 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara 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.
