1984 Riots Akin to Killing of Jews by Nazis: CBI on Sajjan’s Bail

“Anti-Sikh riots are on par with mass extermination of Jews by Nazis,” CBI said in affidavit opposing Sajjan’s bail.

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar visits Hanuman temple at Connaught Place, in New Delhi, in 2018. Image used for representational purpose only. 

(Photo: PTI)

Opposing 1984 riots convict Sajjan Kumar’s bail plea, the CBI compared the killing of Sikhs to the “mass extermination of Jews by Nazis,” reported The Indian Express.

Citing the affidavit, the report has said that the large number of acquittals in the 1984 riots case demonstrate Kumar’s power and influence.

The CBI has also pointed that in 1984 riots, the minority community was targeted by spearheaded attacks of dominant political actors like the applicant/convict and duly facilitated by law enforcement agencies, the report by The Indian Express said.

The CBI, in its affidavit to Kumar’s response, has stated:

“The brutal murder of innocent Sikhs during the 1984 riots falls under the category of crimes against humanity, on par with well-known genocides worldwide like the large-scale killing of Armenians by Kurds and Turks, the mass extermination of Jews by Nazis, the mass killing of Bangladeshi citizens by Pakistani Army sympathisers and the mass killing during various ethnic riots within India also.”

‘His Age Holds No Relevance’: CBI

The CBI has further demanded that this case has to be viewed in the larger context of mass crimes and requires a different approach than ‘a case of normal murder/rioting’.

The affidavit by the CBI has also said that there was an abject failure by police to register separate FIRs.

“Rather, several complaints of riot victims were clubbed together…”

Arguing against Kumar’s age clause, the agency submitted that his age – 73 – is of no relevance, especially when seen in light of the offence for which he has been convicted.

The CBI said that at the time of the incident, Kumar was a Member of Parliament of the then ruling party in India and killings in this case had taken place in pursuance to the provocative speeches made by him against the Sikh community.

Kumar has challenged in the top court the Delhi High Court's 17 December 2018 verdict sentencing him to life term in a case related to killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on 1 and 2 November 1 1984, and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

The anti-Sikh riots had broken out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and PTI)