’84 riots: Saw Sajjan Kumar instigate mobs, says witness
NEWDELHI: A key prosecution witness in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case on Friday identified Congress leader Sajjan Kumar before a Delhi court as the man who had allegedly instigated the mobs to kill Sikhs.
Deposing as a prosecution witness, Cham Kaur, told the court that she had seen Kumar allegedly addressing the crowd in Delhi’s Sultanpuri area in 1984.
Kumar had then allegedly said that the Sikhs had killed ‘our mother’ and instigated the mob to kill them.
“On October 31, 1984, we were watching TV about the demise of Indira Gandhi. On November 1, 1984, when I stepped out, I saw accused Sajjan Kumar addressing the crowed and saying ‘Humari ma maar di. Sardaro ko maar do’ (killed our mother. Kill the Sikhs),” Kaur told district judge Poonam A Bamba.
She further said that the next morning, her family was attacked in which here son and father were killed.
“My son Kapoor Singh and my father Sardarji Singh were pulled out of their hiding place on the second floor, beaten up badly and thrown down from the roof,” she said, adding that she herself sustained injuries in the attack.
During the proceedings, Kaur also identified Kumar, who was present in court.
“I could recognise Sajjan Kumar, as we used to visit him for getting help in making ration card, passport. We used to visit the accused for getting paper stamps as he was the MP/MLA,” she said.
She also named other persons who were shot dead on the same date by the mob.
The injured and the family members of victims were later taken to the police station and relief camps by police and the Army respectively.
She told the court that she had named Kumar earlier as well.
Anil Kumar Sharma, Sajjan Kumar’s counsel, said, “She (Cham Kaur) has been examined by police and deposed before the court earlier in 1991, but she never names Sajjan Kumar. In the 1994 judgment pertaining to the killing of her father and son, she had not named Kumar. She had not even challenged the 1994 judgment. This is the first time she is naming Kumar and this is being done at the behest of the CBI.”
Before Cham Kaur, another key prosecution witness, Sheela Kaur, had identified Kumar as the one who had instigated the mob in Sultanpuri.