Hours after the Delhi High Court sentenced Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment for his involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said that "no one had doubts about the Congress' role in the riots."
The High Court on Monday reversed the local trial court's order and sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment, saying there appeared to be "large-scale efforts to suppress cases" against him.
Shah, taking to his Twitter handle, said that "no one was ever punished despite multiple commissions and several eyewitnesses." "No one ever had any doubts on Congress's role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Their leaders and workers went on rampage raising provocative slogans, raping women and murdering men in cold blood. Yet no one was ever punished despite multiple commissions and several eyewitnesses," he said.
"The victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots had lost all hope of justice because those responsible for the crime against them enjoyed political patronage of Congress leadership. Delhi High Court's conviction of Sajjan Kumar has once again assured the victims that criminals of 1984 will not go scot-free," Shah wrote on micro-blogging site.
BJP president also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2015 for the re-investigation of several pending cases in connection to the riots.
"I want to thank Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi for setting up an SIT in 2015, which initiated re-investigation into several cases of 1984, pending for over three decades. I am grateful to the Court, which has delivered its judgment, bringing relief to the traumatised families," Shah further said.
During the ruling, the bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel asked the 73-year-old former MP to surrender before December 31 and serve the sentence for rest of his life. It also directed him that he should not leave Delhi.
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The case pertains to the murder of five Sikhs in the Delhi Cantonment area during the large-scale violence that occurred following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. During four days of carnage, about 2,700 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone.
Earlier in 2013, the Karkardooma trial court had acquitted Kumar and convicted five others in the case. The appeal in High Court was filed by those convicted in the case, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the family of victims.