Sajjan Kumar to move Supreme Court against Delhi High Court order

Congress leader Sajjan Kumar will challenge the order of the Delhi High Court, which on Monday convicted and sentenced him to life in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, in the Supreme Court, his counsel Anil Kumar Sharma said.

"Remedies have not been exhausted. We respect the judgment but our right is to move to the Supreme Court as the first appeal as a matter of right or otherwise also. We feel that the Honourable Judge has not agreed with our point. Therefore, in order to put forth our point we will move to the next forum," Sharma told reporters here.

He further said that the case against Kumar was one of "no evidence." "According to us, this case was a case of no evidence because Kumar was named in the case in 2000 for the first time whereas prior to that complainant had given an affidavit before Ranganath Mishra Commission where our name was not featured and no role was assigned to us. Abruptly in 2000, our name comes. Other evidence came after 26 years and third after 28 years. We find it a good cause of appeal," he added.

The Delhi High Court on Monday reversed the trial court's acquittal of Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment for the rest of his life and asked him to surrender by December 31. He was also directed not to leave Delhi.

The case relates to the riots that took place in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.