NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday held Congress’s ex-MP Sajjan Kumar guilty of murder by instigating and leading a mob that killed a father-son duo during the anti-Sikh riots in Saraswati Vihar, north-west Delhi, 40 years ago, reports Vineet Upadhyay. Kumar, who is serving a life term in another murder case related to the riots, faces a maximum of death penalty and a minimum of life term in prison.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja relied on testimonies of survivors of the mob assault on Nov 1, 1984, which was led by Kumar. These included the family of Jaswant Singh, comprising his wife, daughter, mother and niece.
Jaswant and his son, Tarundeep, were killed by the mob. In a 139-page verdict, judge Baweja said the testimony showed “failure of the police personnel to act and to come to provide any aid to public persons, even upon seeing the plight of the complainant and the other victims”.
The court said it has been “established that accused Sajjan Kumar, being a member of such unlawful assembly, is guilty of having committed the murder of Jaswant Singh and Tarundeep Singh”.
Both men were thrashed by the mob led by Kumar and then burnt alive. The mob also beat up Jaswant Singh’s wife, daughter and niece. The women survivors narrated that Jaswant and his son were badly beaten by the crowd and suffered serious injuries.
They recalled that in an attempt to save them from the crowd, Jaswant’s wife had thrown herself over her husband and her niece had covered her son because of which they both suffered injuries. The wife suffered a fracture in her hand when someone forcibly snatched away her bangles.
The survivors said that even as some people from the crowd dragged them to the house of a neighbour, the mob started pouring petrol on the two men to eventually burn them alive.
Rejecting Kumar’s contention that the case was politically motivated, the court said all 14 witnesses have consistently denied suggestions that they have been used as tools by SIT or anyone else for political reasons to falsely implicate Kumar.
Taking note of the testimonies of the 14 witnesses, who described the incident in detail, the court said it is clearly discernible that the complainant neither had the occasion nor the trust to confide in police officers though she joined the investigation after an FIR was registered in 1984 at Punjabi Bagh police station.
Observing that the prosecution had brought ‘home the guilt’, the court held Kumar instigated the mob, which was armed with deadly weapons and was an ‘unlawful assembly’ that used force and violence as a part of its common objective of looting and rioting.
They were armed with iron rods, lathis and bricks, which proves the alleged offences were committed after preparations, it added. The court rejected the argument of Kumar that except for the victims, police could not produce a single eyewitness to corroborate their story. Hence, the court said, argument of the defence must be rejected.
The deposition of the prosecution witnesses, including the complainant (Jaswant’s wife) and other two survivors, which have otherwise been found to be credible, can’t be discredited for the reason that they are not corroborated by the deposition of any other independent witness, it observed.
It said the traumatised woman who “witnessed the brutal killing of her husband and son can certainly not be expected to forget the face of the person who was instigating the mob to carry out the said killings and lootings and her deposition in court fortifies her stand that it is the accused who was not only present during the alleged incident but also leading the mob which resulted in commission of the aforesaid offences.”
The court said the fact that Jaswant’s wife did not initially recognise the accused was natural.
“Trauma suffered by the complainant on seeing her husband and son being burnt must be kept in mind, more so, when she herself suffered severe injuries in the incident and also suffered loss of her house and belongings which were set on fire by the mob.” It accepted the stand of SIT that on seeing Kumar’s photo in a magazine a few months after the horror, she was able to recognise him. “Sheer size of the mob, which was on a spree of destroying and burning houses, looting and arson and killing and beating persons, the fact that PW-13 (Jaswant’s wife) had recently shifted to the area are also relevant factors and must be borne in mind while weighing her testimony,” it underlined, saying her version “and her narration of the incident is natural and believable.” The case has been listed on Feb 18 for arguments on the point of sentence.