1984 Anti-Sikh revolts: Why the former Congress MP, Sajjan Kumar, did not receive the death penalty

New Delhi: Former MP Congress Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment On Tuesday, in a case of a crime related to anti-Sikh revolts in 1984. Sajjan was convicted of killing Jaswant Singh and his son, Tardeep Singh on November 1, 1984.
The verdict attracted strong reactions from the Sikhi leaders who asked why Kumar did not give the death penalty. “We will not accept anything less than the death penalty. We are not satisfied with the court’s verdict. We will appeal to the Government to go to a higher court and announce the death penalty for Sajjan Kumar,” said leader Sikh Gurlad Singh.
Even though the Court acknowledged Kumar’s crime brutality, it has categorically quoted attenuating factors, including age, health problems and good conduct in prison, as reasons to impose a life sentence instead of the death penalty.

Why were the scales in favor of life prison for Kumar?

Explaining why the scale was in favor of life imprisonment and not the death penalty, the order of the court said: “” satisfactory “behavior of the convicted, according to the report of the prison authorities, the conditions from which it is supposed to suffer, that the convict has Roots in society and the possibility of its reform and rehabilitation are material considerations that, in my opinion, tilt the scales in favor of the sentence for life imprisonment instead of death punishment. “
“Although the killing of two innocent persons in this case are no less a crime, however, the circumstances mentioned above, in my opinion, do not make this” rarer rare case “that justify the imposition of the death penalty”, the court said.
The judge mentioned that the current case was part of the same sequence of events for which Kumar had previously been sentenced to life by the High Court in Delhi on December 17, 2018. At that time, he was found guilty of causing death of Five people during the revolt that broke out after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The judge condemned Kumar to life imprisonment for his role in the crowd that robbed the victims’ house, set fire and “brutally kill” two people. Citing a prison report, the court also noted that Kumar’s damaged health allowed him to fight with daily activities.
The judge referred to the report of psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the convicted person, who indicated that he received treatment in the departments of medicine, urology and neurology at Safdarjung Hospital and was prescribed antidepressants and sleep drugs.