Anti-Sikh riots: Court allows Sajjan’s plea to submit media evidence
Special judge Dig Vinay Singh allowed the application and directed two media houses to file a certificate of authenticity and a fresh printout of the news articles mentioned in the application
The Rouse Avenue court on Saturday allowed the plea of former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who sought a direction for two media houses to place on record certified copies of some news reports published between November 2 and November 11, 1984.
Kumar is facing trial in an anti-Sikh riots case linked with FIRs registered at Janakpuri and Vikas Puri police stations.
Special judge Dig Vinay Singh allowed the application and directed two media houses to file a certificate of authenticity and a fresh printout of the news articles mentioned in the application.
The court has also allowed the plea of Kumar to take on record the statement of a witness in a previous case as defence evidence in the present case. The witnesses were from the Indian Red Cross Society and had deposed in context with the blood donation camp organised by Kumar in November 1984. The said witness is not available.
An application was moved on behalf of Kumar to show that the accused organised or participated in peace marches and blood donation camps in and around the riot-affected area.
Advocate Anil Kumar Sharma, along with Apoorv Sharma and Anuj Sharma, argued that through these newspaper reports, the accused aims to demonstrate that he was not only a member of Parliament for the area where the incident occurred, but also that he was visible to the public even after the events. Therefore, there was no reason for the witnesses not to have recognised or named him for several years or decades.
On July 7, Kumar denied the charges levelled against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. He stated before the Rouse Avenue court that he was not present at the site of the riots and was falsely implicated.
The Janakpuri case pertains to the killing of two Sikhs, Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh, on November 1, 1984. The second case was registered in the Vikaspuri police station related to the burning of Gurcharan Singh on November 2, 1984.
The court had discharged Kumar from the offence of murder on August 23, 2023.
