Delhi HC closes Sajjan Kumar’s appeal after his death

The Delhi High Court has closed former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar’s appeal against his conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots murder case, following his death on August 20.

Kumar was serving two life sentences in Tihar jail in connection with the riots. A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan said his appeal would abate.

The appeal challenged Kumar’s conviction in the killings of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984. The killings took place a day after anti-Sikh riots broke out in Delhi following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

A trial court convicted Kumar on February 12, 2025, and sentenced him to life imprisonment on February 25. It held that the killings of the two men were grave crimes, but did not meet the threshold for a death sentence.

Kumar had also received a life sentence from the Delhi High Court in December 2018 in another riots case involving the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara.