1984 anti-Sikh riots: Delhi court acquits former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court Wednesday acquitted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a case related to the killing of a person during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, giving him the "benefit of doubt".
Special Judge Geetanjli Goel also acquitted two other accused -- Ved Prakash Pial and Brahmanand Gupta -- holding that the prosecution failed to prove the case of murder and rioting against them. A Sikh man Surjit Singh was killed during the incident in Sultanpuri.
"The accused Sajjan Kumar is given benefit of doubt and acquitted for the offence" the judge said.
Kumar was accused of various offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc. (Section 153A), abetment of any offence (Section 109), murder (Section 302) and rioting (147).
The riots had broken out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
Kumar is currently lodged in Tihar jail after conviction in another case related to the riots.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
