SC declines interim bail to Sajjan Kumar

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to grant interim bail on medical grounds to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar who is serving life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. A bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and justices Indu Malhotra and Hrishikesh Roy perused his medical report and said that he did not need hospitalization at the moment.

Declining the interim bail plea, the bench, holding proceedings via video-conferencing, said that it would hear the regular bail application in July. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, and senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for some riots victims, opposed the bail plea of the convict leader.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing Kumar, said that his client be granted bail as if something happens to him in jail then his life imprisonment would become death penalty for him.

Kumar and Balwan Khokhar are serving life imprisonment in Tihar jail in the case after the Delhi high court convicted them on December 17, 2018. PTI