Breaking: SC issues notice in Sajjan Kumar appeal against conviction in Anti-Sikh Riot cases

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Government of Delhi and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the appeal filed by former Congress leader MP Sajjan Kumar challenging his conviction in the anti-Sikh Riots case..A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Ashok Bhushan and Sanjay Kishan Kaul heard the appeal before issuing notice returnable in six weeks with respect to the interim relief for stay of Delhi High Court judgment..In December, the Delhi High Court had sentenced former Member of Parliament (MP) Sajjan Kumar to imprisonment for life for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots..Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 120B r/w Sections 302, 436, 295, 153A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code..The High Court reversed the 2013 decision of the trial court and held him guilty of the offences of murder, promoting enmity between groups, and defiling public property..The lack of corroborative evidence to support the charges framed against Sajjan Kumar led the trial court to refuse to convict Sajjan Kumar solely on the basis of the eye-witness testimony of the complainant in the case, Jagdish Kaur, who had lost her husband, son and three brothers in the riots..The conviction prompted Kumar to file an application in the High Court praying for extension of the December 31 deadline to surrender. However, the High Court refused to entertain the same. Subsequently, the former MP approached the Supreme Court in appeal..Read the order below.