December 21, 2018:
On Friday, the Delhi high court dismissed the petition of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, convicted to serve the rest of his life in jail for killing five people in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, seeking additional time to surrender.
On Thursday, Court had asked him to surrender by Dec 31 but he had moved it seeking time till the end of Jan.
In his 15-point request filed before the court, Kumar mentioned how the HC's verdict finding him guilty had stunned him and he needed time to prepare for the jail sentence.
The Delhi HC had on Dec 17 overturnedSajjan Kumar’s acquittal by a lower court and held him guilty of torching a family of five in west Delhi’s Raj Nagar during the riots in Delhi nearly 34 years ago.
Spending some more time with his family — including his eight grandchildren — was Sajjan Kumar’s top reason to request the court to give him some grace period before he starts his jail term.
Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel had given the 73-year-old politician, who was considered a Congress strongman in the scores of villages on the outskirts of the national capital, time till Dec 31 to surrender.
Foremost among the reasons stated in his application seeking a delay in his surrender was the fact that he has eight grandchildren aged between 25 years and 5 years. The application also states that he has a big family, both from maternal and paternal side.
In the second reason listed in his application, Sajjan Kumar states that he is “at present under shock and surprise in view of the order of acquittal having been set aside and conviction” and goes on to say that the “applicant believes he is innocent”.
His third reason states that he needs time to settle his family affairs including affairs with regard to the properties. The application stated that “he would not be in a position to settle them within the short span of time granted by the court”.
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