A veteran Indian politician was given a life sentence on Monday over anti-Sikh riots in 1984 that killed nearly 3,000 people following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The Delhi High Court found Sajjan Kumar, 73, guilty of instigating mobs during the mass killings triggered by the killing of Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
At the time Kumar was an MP with the ruling Congress party. He was acquitted in 2013 but the high court reversed the judgment on appeal from federal investigators.
He was found guilty over a case involving the murder of five members of a Sikh family in New Delhi after testimony from witnesses.
A two-judge bench convicted Kumar of criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity and acting against communal harmony, the Press Trust of India and other local media reported.
Delhi High Court convicts Congress leader #SajjanKumar and sentenced him to life for conspiracy to commit murder in the 1984 Anti Sikh riots case.#SajjanKumarConvicted pic.twitter.com/r6T8SHzatZ
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) December 17, 2018
"It is important to assure the victims that despite the challenges truth will prevail," the court said, according to the NDTV news network.
"The aftershock of those atrocities is still being felt."
Kumar, who has been asked to surrender by the end of this month, will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The 1984 carnage erupted just hours after Gandhi was shot dead at her residence in New Delhi.
Over the next three days Sikhs were raped, murdered, and their homes and businesses torched.
Gandhi was killed over her decision to use military force to expel Sikh separatists from inside the Golden Temple — Sikhism's holiest shrine in the northern Indian city of Amritsar.
Critics accuse the Congress of turning a blind eye to the killings and the role of leaders such as Kumar and Jagdish Tytler.
Last week, Congress named Kamal Nath chief minister of the central state of Madhya Pradesh despite allegations that he had led one of the mobs during the riots.
Deeply ironical that on the day one Congress leader, #SajjanKumar, is jailed for life for his role in the 1984 #SikhPogrom another, #KamalNath, though not charged for leading Congress goons who murdered over 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi, is sworn in as new CM of Madhya Pradesh
— Minhaz Merchant (@MinhazMerchant) December 17, 2018
Kumar, Tytler and others have always denied any wrongdoing.
Kumar last won a parliamentary election in 2004 but was forced to withdraw from the 2009 polls over the rioting allegations.
Last month, another accused, Yashpal Singh was sentenced to death for murder and rioting.
Sikhs make up about 2 per cent of Hindu-majority India's population of 1.25 billion.
________________
Read more:
[ From Sikh to Christian, religious leaders gear up for UAE's Year of Tolerance ]
[ Imran Khan uses new border crossing to push for better ties with India ]
[ India gives Canada's golden boy Trudeau the cold shoulder ]
________________
