New Delhi: After a 33 years long slumber the Delhi High Court (DHC) on Monday, asked for the statements of the persons alleging Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s role in the Sikh killings of November 1984. It has tasked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Union Home Ministry to submit those statements.
Justice Anu Malhotra reportedly asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the SIT which is probing the charges against Sajjan Kumar, to place the statements of persons recorded multiple times by the police and the magistrates during and after lodging of the FIR in the murder cases.
It is reported by the media sources that during the court proceeding ASG maintained that witnesses were not coming forward as the Congress leader was not in custody. Kumar was granted anticipatory bail by a trial court on December 21 last year in a case of killing of three Sikhs during the pogrom.
Additionally, the ASG argued before the Delhi High Court that the trial court had erred in granting the relief to the former MP on the ground of lapse of time.
“The witnesses and their families as well as the kin of the victims of the killings had fled to Punjab, fearing for their lives and it was only now that they were coming forward” he adds.
Advocate Anil Sharma, appearing for the Congress leader, opposed ASG’s contention, claiming that the trial court’s order was well reasoned and even after grant of the bail, his client was never called for interrogation, reports The Tribune (TT).