New Delhi: a Delhi court Tuesday granted two terms of life to the Ex-MP Congress Sajjan Kumar (80) for killing a SIJ man and his son during the Anti-Sikh disturbances in November 1984. The court said the crimes committed were “undoubtedly brutal and reprimandable.”
The two terms of life, one for the double murders and another for crimes under section 436 (Travesuras by fire or explosive substance with the intention of destroying the house, etc.) of the CPI, will function simultaneously.
The Court had on February 12 convicted of Kumar in the case for killing Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati VIhar.
Refuse to consider the case in the category “rarely rare” to be suitable to grant death sentence, special judge Kaveri Baweja He cited several “mitigating factors”, including Kumar’s age, his state of health and his wife in bed. “The satisfactory behavior of the convict according to the report of the prison authorities … the fact that it has roots in society and the possibility of its reform and rehabilitation are material considerations that, in my opinion, incline the scales in favor of A prayer for life.
Testimonies of victims’ relatives nail Sajjan
Kumar is already fulfilling a life term in a case related to the anti-sikh disturbances granted by the Superior Court of Delhi in 2018. The court had specified in that case that it will remain in jail for the rest of his life.
The main lawyer HS Phoolka, who appeared on behalf of the plaintiff in the case, explained the two life imprisonments granted by the court. “One has been granted by murder under section 302 of CPI and the other for crimes of less than 436 CPI. The minimum judgment prescribed by murder and the maximum sentence for crimes of less than 436 CPI have been granted. Both sentences will be executed simultaneously , but two life imprisonment sentences will have a serious relationship in any Kumar plea for bail.
The court indicated that the incident in question can say that it is part of the same chain of incidents by which Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Superior Court of Delhi on December 12, 2018. He had been declared guilty of causing the death of Five innocent people during a similar incident of disturbances after the murder of Indira Gandhi.
“Although the murder of two innocent people in the present case is no less a crime … the circumstances noted, in my opinion, they do not make this a ‘weirdest case’ that guarantees the imposition of the death penalty for the crime punishable according to section 302, read with section 149 CPI, “the court observed.
When describing the brutality suffered by the victims, the court said that it has been established that the victims in the present case were witnesses not only of the brutal murder of their family members at the hands of the Mafia Disturbios, of which Kumar was part, but also the burning and destruction of his house and looting his belongings.
“The impotence of the victims and the lack of any support of the neighbors and the police have also been established from their incontroverted statements. In these circumstances, I am of the opinion considered that this is an adequate case in which the convict It must also be granted life imprisonment for the punishable crime with section 436 CPI R/W section 149 CPI in addition to a fine, “said the court.
The Court listed several aggravating factors in the case, including the murder of two innocent people by burning them in the presence of their relatives, inflicting injuries and continuous trauma of the victims of survivors (wife, daughter and niece of the deceased victim Jaswant Jaswant Jaswant Singh Singh ) and the destruction of his house and belongings of the mafia, of which Kumar was a member during the disturbances, the Orientation of male members of a particular community and Kumar’s condition in a similar case by Delhi HC, where five people were killed by a crowd of which Kumar considered the leader.
However, the court’s inclination was in favor of the mitigating circumstances while sentenced to Kumar.
The court described the testimonies of the witnesses: the plaintiff, the daughter and the niece of the late Jaswant Singh “reliable” and uncontrolled by demonstrating that his house in Raj Nagar in Saraswati Vihar, Delhi, was burned by the crowd.
While sentenced to Kumar, the Court took note of a report by the Tihar prison authorities, which declared that due to its prevailing health conditions, Kumar could not carry out his routine/daily activities properly. The report says that due to your fragile health, you cannot do any work in jail.
The report also said that it is under treatment and that antidepressants and sleep medications were prescribed. Otherwise, it does not show signs and symptoms of mental illness and does not require any psychiatric intervention today, said the prison administration report.