1984 Anti-Sikh Riots| 'Why High Court reversed Sajjan Kumar's acquittal?', Supreme Court asks
In the impugned judgment, the Delhi High Court was of the view that the mass killings of Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere in November 1984 were in fact "crimes against humanity‟.
Sajjan Kumar was convicted of offences of criminal conspiracy and abetment in the commission of the crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony.
The Supreme Court today has called for a compilation on what led to reversal of acquittal of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 Sikh riots case by the Delhi High Court. The matter will now be heard on November 12, 2025.
Senior Advocate R S Cheema appeared for the CBI whereas Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented Kumar.
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi is hearing the appeal filed by Kumar against the Delhi High Court's 2013 decision reversing his acquittal in one of the cases registered against him in relation to the 1984 Sikh riots.
The present appeals arise from the case relating to the killing of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar Part I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on 1st and 2nd November 1984 and the burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part II. Six accused, including Sajjan Kumar a Congress leader who was a Member of Parliament at that time, were sent up for trial some time in 2010. Three years later, the trial court convicted five of the accused: three of them for the offences of armed rioting and murder and two of them for the offence of armed rioting. Sajjan Kumar stood acquitted by the trial Court of all offences.
Kumar's acquittal by the trial Court was set aside and he was convicted ofthe offence of criminal conspiracy punishable under Section 120B read with Sections 302, 436, 295, and 153A (1) (a) and (b) IPC; for the offence punishable under Section 109 IPC of abetting the commission of the aforementioned offences; and for the offence of delivering provocative speeches instigating violence against Sikhs punishable under Section 153A (1) (a) and (b) IPC.
The High Court convicted Kumar for the offences of criminal conspiracy and abetment in the commission of the crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony, defiling and destruction of the Gurudwara by burning.
A bench of former Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel of the High Court noted that Kumar was charged with having delivered fiery/provocative speeches to the mob gathered at Raj Nagar, Palam Colony, Delhi Cantonment on 1st/2nd November 1984 and having instigated and promoted violent enmity against the Sikh community and disturbed harmony between the two religious groups/communities of the locality in retaliation of the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi, giving rise to feelings of enmity, hatred, and ill will between members of the non-Sikh and Sikh communities which was prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony and disturbed public tranquillity.
For some background, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, on the morning of 31st October 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards, a communal frenzy was unleashed. For four days between 1st and 4th November of that year, all over Delhi, 2,733 Sikhs were brutally murdered. A majority of the perpetrators of these horrific mass crimes, enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement. It took as many as ten Committees and Commissions for the investigation into the role of some of them to be entrusted in 2005 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 21 years after the occurrence agency.
In February this year, Rouse Avenue Court awarded life imprisonment to Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted for the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar. Per the prosecution, Sajjan Kumar participated in an unlawful assembly that used force and deadly weapons, resulting in the murder of Sardar Jaswant Singh (50) and his son Sardar Tarundeep Singh (18), who were burned alive. Additional Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat, for the State, argued that the case fell under the "rarest of rare" doctrine, justifying the death penalty under Section 302 read with Section 149 IPC.
Case Title: SAJJAN KUMAR vs. STATE THROUGH CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Bench: Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi
Hearing Date: September 25, 2025