NEW DELHI: Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar was charged with murder, rioting, arson and dacoity, among others, by a city court in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the Sultanpuri area in West Delhi. In a packed court room at the Patiala House courts, Additional Sessions Judge H.R. Malhotra last week framed the charge against Mr. Kumar and 10 other accused of murder, rioting with deadly weapons along with other persons, dacoit, arson, causing disappearance of evidence and trespass. Mr. Kumar, who was present in the court along with other accused, pleaded “not guilty” to the allegations made against him. This is the first time that an important political leader has been charged with murder in the 1984 riots case. Further hearing in the case would be on November 13 when the prosecution’s evidence would also be recorded. Mr. Kumar, dressed in white, arrived at the courts escorted by Black Cat commandos who were conspicuous by their absence at the last hearing. Security around the courtroom too had been beefed up with the police cordoning off the courtyard in front of the court room to restrict entry and access to the court of the Additional Sessions Judge. Mr. Malhotra had ordered the upgrading of security when, on Thursday, Mr. Kumar’s counsel had filed an application for better arrangements. The presence of slogan-shouting crowds, chanting “Sajjan Kumar, hai, hai,” had prompted the application. Though the slogan-shouting crowd of sympathizers of riot victims was present even on this occasion, they were kept at a “‘safe distance” by the armed police cordon.

The charges were framed after the judge, who recently took over the case from his predecessor, B. S. Choudhary an additional charge of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion under Section 153-A was framed separately against Mr, Kumar. In his order over the additional charge of section 153-A against Mr, Kumar, Mr, Malhotra observed: “You (Sajjan Kumar) on November 1, 1984 at about 3 pm held a meeting near Gurdwara of A-4 block, Sultanpuri and in the said meeting, you delivered a fiery speech and spoke the words ‘Sardaron ke purushon ko maar do, kisi bhi purush kona chhodo’ and the words, or signs or visible representations to such effect instigated and promoted the persons gathered at your meeting to kill the male members of the Sikh community (including that of victim Navin Singh whose wife Anwar Kaur is the complainant in this case),”

Thereafter, as alleged by Ms. Kaur, the accused got la this, iron rods, , guns and kerosene oil cans and went on the rampage where they forcibly entered her house, pulled out her husband by his hair, gave him a severe beating and then set him on fire after pouring kerosene oil over him. Later, it was alleged, the accused even carted away Navin Singh’s charred body in an attempt to destroy evidence, prior to Mr. Malhotra, Mr. Choudhary had stated in his order on charge: “After weighing through all the evidence available on the record and hearing the arguments from both the sides a length. I was not convinced of the charges made by the accused persons “L hold that prima facie case against all the accused persons is made out,” the judge ordered. In addition to Sultanpuri MLA Jai Kishan, the other accused persons are Nathu Ram, Brahmanand Gupta, Udal Singh, Sita Ram, Jal Bhagwan Hanuman Prasad and Maninder Singh Yadav.

Article extracted from this publication >>  September 18, 1996