Senior advocate HS Phoolka criticises Congress tributes after Sajjan Kumar's death.

Senior advocate H.S. Phoolka has criticised Congress leaders for their tributes to former party MP Sajjan Kumar, who died on Thursday while serving life imprisonment in cases arising from the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Phoolka alleged that Kumar was involved in the killings at the direction of the Congress leadership and claimed that opposition leaders had warned then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi about Kumar's alleged role in the violence.

He also alleged that orders to kill Sikhs had come from the Prime Minister's Office. These claims were made by Phoolka and have not been established as judicial findings.

Phoolka's remarks came after Congress leaders paid tributes to Kumar following his death at the age of 80. Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda described Kumar's death as an "irreparable loss" and said his connection with people in Delhi and north India had been cited as a model across the country

Kumar, a former three-term Lok Sabha MP from Outer Delhi, had been serving life sentences in two separate cases linked to the 1984 violence. He died at Safdarjung Hospital on August 20 while in custody.

The 1984 violence erupted following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. Widespread violence against Sikhs followed in Delhi and other parts of the country.

Sajjan Kumar's 2018 conviction

Kumar's most significant conviction came in December 2018, when the Delhi High Court overturned his acquittal by a trial court in the Raj Nagar case.

The case concerned the killing of five members of a Sikh family in Raj Nagar Part I in Delhi's Palam Colony on November 1-2, 1984, and the burning of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part II. The high court convicted Kumar and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life.

The high court's judgment described the mass killings of Sikhs in November 1984 as "crimes against humanity" and criticised the prolonged delay in bringing the perpetrators to justice. Kumar surrendered and began serving his sentence in December 2018.

Second life sentence in 2025

Kumar was convicted for a second time in February 2025 in a separate case concerning the killings of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Delhi's Saraswati Vihar area on November 1, 1984.

The Rouse Avenue court convicted him for the murders and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The prosecution and victims' family had sought the death penalty, but the court imposed life imprisonment.

Kumar's legal record also included acquittals. In January 2026, a Delhi court acquitted him in another case arising from the 1984 violence, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The acquittal did not affect his imprisonment because he was already serving a life sentence arising from the 2018 conviction.

Appeals Before Supreme Court

Kumar had challenged the Delhi High Court's December 2018 conviction before the Supreme Court. His appeal was admitted by the Supreme Court in January 2019. The appeal challenged the high court's decision to overturn his acquittal and sentence him to life imprisonment in the Raj Nagar case.

In September 2025, the Supreme Court sought a compilation explaining the Delhi High Court's decision to overturn Kumar's acquittal in the Raj Nagar case and directed that his appeal be taken up after the Diwali break. The matter was subsequently listed for hearing on November 12, 2025.

The appeal against Kumar's December 2018 conviction remained pending before the Supreme Court. In April 2026, the apex court agreed to take up his plea for an early hearing, after his counsel pointed out that Kumar had spent more than seven years in custody. The matter was to be heard in July 2026, but remains undecided.

Phoolka's allegations about political involvement

Phoolka, who has represented victims of the 1984 violence, has for decades been associated with the legal fight for accountability in the cases.

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