SC to consider urgent hearing to Sajjan Kumar’s bail plea

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said it would consider the plea seeking urgent hearing of the bail application of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who is serving life imprisonment awarded to him by the Delhi high court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. On August 5 this year, an apex court bench headed by justice SA Bobde, now CJI-designate, had said it would hear Kumar’s bail plea in May 2020 as it was not an “ordinary case” and required detailed hearing before any order is passed.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justice Surya Kant was told by senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the former Congress leader, he wanted an urgent listing of Kumar’s bail plea as it was pending for quite sometime.

“We will see to it,” the bench told Naphade, who was assisted by lawyer Amit Anand Tiwari.

Kumar has also challenged the Delhi high court’s judgment convicting and awarding him life imprisonment in the case probed by CBI. The CBI, in its reply, said the offence for which Kumar was convicted was of “gruesome nature” as it was a “genocide”.

It has sought dismissal of the bail plea and the appeal of Kumar, saying he has a “large political clout” and is capable of “influencing or terrorising” witnesses in another case pending against him. The CBI said a fair trial in the case pending against Kumar would not be possible if he is granted bail. Kumar, 73, lodged in jail, resigned from the Congress party after he was convicted by the high court. PTI