Centre’s SIT opposes bail granted to Sajjan Kumar in anti-Sikh riots case

Appearing for the SIT on Tuesday, advocate Ajay Digpaul submitted before a single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma: “My instructions are that today all prosecution witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution, and there is clinching evidence against the Respondent (Kumar). That bail was granted at the time it was not required.” He said that the trial court did not consider in its order that Kumar was convicted in certain other cases and that his bail on medical grounds had also been rejected by the Supreme Court.

Digpaul further argued that while granting bail, the sessions court made certain observations “which are not required”. Referring to the trial court’s observation that the complainant took Kumar’s name with certainty after a “long gap of seven years”, Digpaul said, “At that time witnesses were yet to be examined and the court still made such observations”, adding such observations are “fatal” to the prosecution’s case.

Opposing this, Kumar’s counsel said there was not even an “iota of allegation” against his client and therefore, “why shouldn’t he be entitled to bail at this stage”. The matter is next listed on November 20.

In its plea, the SIT contended that it examined the complainant of the 1991 FIR who said that it was Kumar who formed an unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons for the purpose of committing criminal acts, including rioting, arson and murder. The complainant who had also filed an affidavit before Justice Ranganath Misra commission of inquiry had clearly mentioned Kumar’s name as the person who instigated the mob, the plea claimed.

A case was registered against Kumar in December 1991 at Saraswati Vihar Police station. Earlier, the Delhi police riot cell was investigating the case, which later closed in 1994. In 2015, a three-member SIT, constituted by the central government to re-investigate the cases of the 1984 riots, decided to reopen the case. The mandate for the SIT was to re-investigate “serious criminal cases which were filed in Delhi in connection with 1984 riots which have since been closed”.