Prosecution seeks death term for Sajjan Kumar

The Delhi Police on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for former Congress parliamentarian Sajjan Kumar, contending that his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots amounted to genocide and ethnic cleansing.

- Arnabjit Sur

The prosecution stressed that Kumar's previous conviction in a similar case underscores the necessity of the death sentence, as life imprisonment would be inadequate for the severity of his crime that it said was "against humanity" and targeting the Sikh community.

Additional public prosecutor Manish Rawat adduced the submissions before additional sessions judge Kaveri Baweja, who has scheduled arguments on sentencing for February 21.

In its written submissions, the prosecution emphasised that Kumar was a key instigator in the brutal killing of Sardar Jaswant Singh, 50, and his son Sardar Tarundeep Singh, 18, in Delhi's Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984. The victims were burnt alive, while Singh's wife, daughter, and niece sustained grievous injuries in the attack led by an unlawful assembly incited by Kumar.

The police categorised the crime as a "rarest of rare" case, justifying the imposition of the death penalty under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Citing Supreme Court judgments, including Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1983) and Machhi Singh Vs State of Punjab (1983), the prosecution argued that the crime was so heinous and its impact so profound that no lesser punishment than capital punishment would suffice.