Delhi Court Convicts Former Congress MP for Killing of Jaswant Singh and Son
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment in a murder case connected to 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The court observed that his old age and illness weighed in favour of a lesser sentence instead of a death penalty.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja said though the killings of “two innocent persons” in the case was no less an offence, it wasn’t a “rarest of rare case” warranting the imposition of death penalty.
The verdict came over the killings of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984. The judge also fined Kumar with approximately Rs.2.4 lakh. All the sentences were ordered by the court to run concurrently.
The judge said the offences committed by Kumar were undoubtedly “brutal and reprehensible” but underscored certain mitigating factors, including his age of 80 years and illnesses that “weigh in favour of imposing a lesser sentence, instead of death penalty”.
The offence of murder attracts a maximum death penalty whereas the minimum punishment is life imprisonment. The complainant, wife of Jaswant, and the state, sought the maximum punishment in the case.
“The ‘satisfactory’ conduct of the convict as per the report of the jail authorities, the ailments from which he is reportedly suffering, the fact that the convict has roots in the society and the possibility of his reformation and rehabilitation are material considerations which, in my opinion, tilt the scales in favour of sentence for life imprisonment instead of death penalty,” the order said.
Nothing “adverse was reported about Kumar’s behaviour” and his conduct was “satisfactory” according to a jail report, the court added.
The judge went on to add that the case at hand was part of the same incident and could be seen in continuity of the incident for which the Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court on December 17, 2018.
He was then found guilty of having caused the death of five persons during a similar incident of rioting post the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The judge, therefore, awarded life imprisonment to Kumar for being part of the mob which set afire the house of the victims and “brutally killed” the two victims aside from looting their belongings.
Meanwhile, victims welcomed the sentence in the Saraswati Vihar case but expressed disappointment, seeking a harsher punishment.
