♒Congress MP Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday by a Delhi court. This sentence comes after the Congress leader was found guilty of leading a mob which burnt two Sikh men alive during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
🧸The riots in 1984 were a series of organised efforts against the Sikh community in India following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
🔯As per government estimates, the riots, which lasted for a month, resulted in the killing of around 2,800 Sikhs in Delhi and 3,350 across the nation. However, as per other sources, the death toll is estimated to be around 8,000 to 17,000.
What Led To The Riots?
🙈On October 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards. This assassination took place months after she ordered Operation Blue Star - which was a military operation to remove Sikh militants from the grounds of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
🌃The operation focused on the removal of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Khalistani extremists - who have been demanding a separate autonomous state for Sikhs in India.
🎉Tensions were already high due to the growing Khalistan movement in Punjab. However, another bone of contention was due to Operation Blue Star has many members of the Sikh community saw deployment of the army as a violation of the holy site.
💖The tensions reached a breaking point with Indira Gandhi's assassination. The public outcry from the former PM's death led to the targeting of the Sikh community in Delhi and across the country.
During the riots, the Congress 𝔉government, which was in power at the time, was heavily criticised for its failure to act against the widespread violence and in many cases was held responsible for inciting the violence.
What Was Sajjan Kumar's Role In The Violence?
༺Sajjan Kumar has been accused of inciting mob violence during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in two cases. The first case against him was related to the killing of five Sikhs at Raj Nagar Part 1 in Palam Colony and the burning down of the Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part 2.
The former Congress MP was found guilty and was handed a life sentence by the Delhi High Court ♔in 2018. The second case against Kumar accused him of inciting the mob which killed two Sikh men.
ꦫAs per the SIT probe, Kumar led the mob which burnt alive Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984.
🌌The mob also destroyed and looted their house based on Kumar's orders.
𒆙According to the Nanavati Commission's report, 2,733 people were killed in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Around 240 FIRs were closed by the police as “untraced” and 250 resulted in acquittal.
