Sikh victims’s kin seek strong punishment for Sajjan Kumar

NEW DELHI - Hailing a Delhi court’s decision to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant for Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases, family members of the victims Wednesday sought stringent punishment for him.

“We are happy with the court order and it should have been done earlier. It’s the first step to justice and we will get justice only when Sajjan Kumar and others will be given stringent punishment for killing so many innocent people,” Babu Singh Dukhiya, president of 1984 Riots Victims’ Society in Tilak Nagar, told IANS.

According to Dukhiya, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should arrest Sajjan Kumar, a former union minister, immediately and he should be put in jail.

“He can influence eye-witnesses and until all cases related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots are decided, he should be behind bars,” said Dukhiya, who lost six family members during the riots.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar issued warrants for the arrest of Sajjan Kumar and six others.

Joginder Singh, who lost his father during the riots, said: “I saw my father dying before my eyes and the culprits evaded law for so long. I am confident they will be punished soon.”

“We only want justice and will fight till all those behind the massacre are punished. We are hopeful to get justice some day,” said Darshan Kaur, whose husband was killed during the riots.

The family members of the victims held demonstrations outside the court and demanded arrest of Sajjan Kumar. Some 18 of the protesters were briefly detained.

The CBI had filed a charge sheet against Sajjan Kumar and others in two cases for allegedly instigating some mobs that killed over 3,000 Sikhs across Delhi in the days following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi Oct 31, 1984.