Sajjan Kumar Dies in Jail: Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar Dies While Serving Life Sentence
Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was serving a life sentence in a 1984 anti Sikh riots case, died after falling seriously ill in Tihar Jail on Thursday.
Sajjan Kumar Dies in Jail: Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was serving a life sentence in connection with the 1984 anti Sikh riots, died on Thursday at the age of 80. He had been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail when his health suddenly deteriorated.
Jail authorities rushed Kumar to Safdarjung Hospital after he became seriously ill. Doctors examined him after his arrival and declared him dead. The exact medical cause of his death was not immediately detailed in the information provided.
Kumar had been serving the life sentence imposed in a case relating to the deaths of five people during the violence that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. The Delhi High Court convicted him in the case in December 2018 and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The case dates back to November 1 and 2, 1984, when violent attacks against the Sikh community were reported in several parts of Delhi following Gandhi’s assassination. Kumar was accused of involvement in the violence in the Palam Colony area, where five people were killed.
After the High Court verdict, Kumar challenged the life sentence before the Supreme Court. His appeal against the conviction was still pending when he died.
Kumar’s name also appeared in other cases linked to the 1984 violence. Cases concerning alleged violence in areas including Janakpuri and Vikaspuri were investigated separately. In January this year, a local Delhi court acquitted him in two such cases, citing insufficient evidence.
However, the acquittals did not affect the life sentence in the Palam Colony case. Kumar therefore remained in prison while his appeal against the main conviction continued before the Supreme Court.
His death brings an end to the prison term of a former parliamentarian whose political career became closely linked with one of the darkest episodes in India’s modern history. The legal proceedings surrounding his conviction had continued for decades after the 1984 violence.
