1984 riots case: Supreme Court dismisses Sajjan Kumar's plea to quash charges

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has rejected a plea by Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to quash charges against him in a case relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi’s Sultanpuri area.

A bench led by Justice AK Patnaik on Tuesday refused to quash the charges and discharge him on the grounds that he had already been tried in connection with these riots and acquitted. Kumar faces charges of unlawful assembly, rioting, murder and promoting hatred between communities. His lawyer Mukul Rohatgi argued that he could not be tried under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC as no direct allegation of killing had been made against him.

Six persons died in Sultanpuri during the riots.

Kumar claimed that he had already been acquitted in three such cases, one of which related to Sultanpuri. He also claimed that under the Constitution he could not be tried for the same offence twice as it would amount to “double jeopardy”.

He argued that the prosecution’s case was based on depositions of witnesses in the case in which he had been acquitted. He cited the recommendations of the Nanavati panel not to reopen the cases involving witnesses who had deposed against other accused in court but there had been acquittals in the case.