Sajjan Kumar, a former Member of Parliament and senior Congress leader who was serving a life sentence in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, died on Thursday, according to news agency ANI. He was brought dead to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. He was 80. The hospital has not yet clarified the cause of his death.
Kumar, an 80-year-old three-time parliamentarian, has been at the centre of one of India's longest-running legal battles arising from the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
For more than three decades, Kumar faced multiple criminal cases linked to the violence, with courts delivering a series of acquittals and convictions.
In a case involving violence in Delhi's Raj Nagar area, where five members of a family were killed and a gurdwara was set on fire, the Delhi High Court on Dec. 17, 2018, overturned Kumar's acquittal by a trial court and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He surrendered later that month and has remained in jail since December 2018.
Kumar was handed a second life term in the Saraswati Vihar murder case, which concerned the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on Nov. 1, 1984. A trial court had earlier acquitted him, but Special Judge Kaveri Baweja sentenced him to life imprisonment on Feb. 25, 2025. The court spared him the death penalty, taking into account his age, health conditions and conduct while serving his earlier life sentence.
In a separate case relating to violence in Delhi's Janakpuri and Vikaspuri areas, a Rouse Avenue Court on Jan. 22 acquitted Kumar of charges linked to the killing of Sohan Singh and his son-in-law Avtar Singh, as well as the burning of Gurcharan Singh.
On May 26, the Delhi High Court issued notice on an appeal challenging the former MP's acquittal in that case. Kumar has also repeatedly sought bail and other relief on medical grounds during his imprisonment.
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