With a Delhi court awarding life imprisonment to former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar in a murder case connected to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party Tuesday said the "wheels of justice" have started moving and hoped that the other accused would also meet their fate.
BJP national spokesperson RP Singh, a Sikh leader, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation to file an appeal before the higher court seeking death penalty for Kumar.
A Delhi court on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to former Sajjan Kumar.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja pronounced the judgement for the murders of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984.
"While the entire country was expecting a death penalty for Sajjan Kumar, he was awarded life imprisonment only. It was not an ordinary case of murder, it was a genocide of Sikhs carried out at the behest of his leader Rajiv Gandhi," Singh said in a video message.
"I urge Modi ji and Amit Shah that they direct the CBI to file an appeal in the higher court seeking death penalty for Sajjan Kumar," he added.
Commenting on the development, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya wrote on X, "Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi and later Sonia Gandhi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 Sikh genocide."
"The wheels of justice have started moving. Several other senior Congress leaders, including one who was in the race to become Congress president, will soon meet their fate. The long arm of the law will catch up,
he added.
Newly appointed Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, another Sikh leader of the BJP, expressed satisfaction with the verdict and said Kumar could be punished for his involvement in the case after 35 years due to a special investigation team (SIT) set up by Prime Minister Modi.
"We are relieved now that action is being taken in this case after 35 years... Sajjan Kumar has been awarded life imprisonment in the case... We believe that similar action will be taken against Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath in the coming days," he told reporters.
"The accused (Sajjan Kumar) could be punished after 35 years just because of the SIT set up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. My community thanks the government and Modi ji (for this)," Sirsa added.
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