HC admits CBI appeal against Sajjan Kumar's acquittal

The Delhi High Court today admitted CBI's appeal against acquittal of Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case relating to killing of five Sikhs by a mob here.
A bench of justices G S Sistani and G P Mittal also asked Kumar to appear before the Registrar General of the High Court to furnish bail bonds on September 2 in the case.
It asked the families of the victims, who also filed similar appeals against trial court's May 30 order letting off Kumar in the 29-year-old case, to withdraw their pleas and add their arguments to the CBI plea.

"Grounds raised by victims in their appeals are treated as additional grounds in CBI appeal and victims given right to argue there," the bench said in its order and fixed October 31 for hearing the case.
The probe agency, in its appeal to the High Court, has said the trial court erred in acquitting Sajjan Kumar as it was he who had instigated the mob during the riots that broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
A special court had on May 30 let off Kumar saying he deserved the "benefit of doubt" as key witness Jagdish Kaur did not name him as an accused in her statement given to the Justice Ranganath Mishra panel in 1985.

"It was a matter of fact that when eye witness and complainant Jagdish Kaur had submitted her affidavit before Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission in 1985, she had not mentioned the name of Sajjan Kumar in any manner though the other accused had been named," it had said.
The trial court, however, had held five others guilty in the case and awarded varying jail terms to them for being part of the mob that killed the Sikhs.
Ex-councillor Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal were given life term, while the remaining two, former MLA Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokkar, were sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for their lesser roles.