Tue Feb 25 09:03:40 UTC 2025: ## Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar Receives Life Imprisonment for 1984 Anti-Sikh Riot Murders
**New Delhi, February 25, 2025** – Former Congress Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment today for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The conviction relates to the murders of two individuals during the widespread violence. The lengthy legal battle, spanning over three decades, finally concluded with Kumar’s sentencing.
The case, initially filed in 1991, faced numerous delays and setbacks, including an initial dismissal by a Delhi court in 1994 due to insufficient evidence. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed in 2015 to reinvestigate the case, leading to Kumar’s arrest in 2021 and subsequent charges being framed in December 2023. The court reserved its verdict in November 2024 before delivering the guilty verdict and life sentence today.
This conviction comes against the backdrop of a larger tragedy. The Nanavati Commission, which investigated the 1984 riots, documented 587 FIRs filed in Delhi alone, linked to the deaths of 2,733 people. A shockingly small number of these cases resulted in convictions; only 28 out of 587, leading to roughly 400 convictions overall, including approximately 50 for murder.
Kumar, a prominent Congress leader at the time of the riots, is also involved in other cases related to the 1984 violence. He is serving a life sentence from a separate case, with an appeal pending before the Supreme Court. Additional legal proceedings against him are ongoing in Delhi courts. Today’s verdict marks a significant development in the long pursuit of justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
First Piper 