1984 anti-Sikh violence convict Sajjan Kumar surrenders in Delhi court, to be lodged at Mandoli jail
The Delhi High Court had declined the former Congress leader’s request for 30 more days to surrender.
Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar surrendered at the Karkardooma court in Delhi on Monday.
The Delhi High Court had on December 17 found the 73-year-old guilty in a case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh violence and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court had also declined his request for 30 more days to surrender. On December 22, Kumar had moved the Supreme Court against his conviction. He was convicted of murder, promoting enmity between groups, and defiling public property.
Metropolitan Magistrate Aditi Garg directed that Kumar be lodged in Mandoli jail in Delhi. The court rejected his petition to be lodged at the high-security Tihar jail, but allowed his plea for security and directed the police to take him to prison in a separate vehicle, PTI reported.
Two other convicts, Kishan Khokhar and Mahender Yadav, also surrendered before the court earlier in the day, PTI reported. They were sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Delhi High Court’s judgement had reversed a lower court’s 2013 verdict acquitting Kumar. However, the court adjourned a second case against the former Congress leader related to the violence. A day after being sentenced to life imprisonment, Kumar had resigned from the Congress.
The violence against Sikhs in early November 1984 had followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.