Sajjan’s plea for more time rejected

new delhi — The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s plea seeking time till January 30 to surrender after being recently sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

A bench comprising Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel said it saw no grounds to grant him the relief and rejected his application. “Application is dismissed,” it said

The same bench had on December 17 convicted and sentenced 73-year-old Kumar to imprisonment for the remainder of his life in the case and had asked him to surrender by December 31.

He had sought more time, till January 30, to surrender saying he has to settle family affairs related to children and property and also needs time to file appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.

The application, filed through advocate Anil Dharma, had said Kumar was “under shock and surprise” since the time he has been convicted and he believes that he is innocent.

The case relates to killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in Palam Colony in South West Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part-II during that period.

The riots had broken out after the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards.