1984 case: Court to hear arguments on sentence tomorrow

A Delhi court will on Thursday hear arguments on quantum of punishment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was acquitted while five persons were convicted for being a part of the mob that had killed five Sikhs.

District Judge J R Aryan had earlier deferred the matter for May 9 after CBI prosecutor, senior advocate R S Cheema, had expressed his inability to appear before it on May 6.

Former Outer Delhi member of Parliament, Kumar was given benefit of doubt by the court which had said one of the victims and key witness Jagdish Kaur did not name him as an accused in her statement recorded by the Justice Ranganath Mishra commission in 1985.

While freeing Kumar, the other five accused -- Balwan Khokkar, an ex-councillor, Mahender Yadav, an ex-member of Legislative Assembly, Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal -- were held guilty on April 30 for the offences including murder, rioting and unlawful assembly by the armed rioters.

Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal were held guilty for the offence of murder under section 302 (murder) of the IPC which entails death penalty as maximum punishment while Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokkar were convicted for the offence of rioting only.

Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal were taken into judicial custody by the court.

The judge in his verdict had said it has been proved that the convicts are guilty of rioting, armed with deadly weapons and unlawful assembly on November 1, 1984 at around 7.30 pm near Gurudwara Raj Nagar.

The court had said it has been proved that there was a rioting mob, including the convicts, and they were armed with weapons like lathis and rods and they did indulge in violence.

"...accused of the present case namely Bhagmal, Balwan Khokkar, Krishan Khokkar and Mahender Yadav were part of that rioting mob and the mob was armed with weapons, lathis and sarias," it had said.