New Delhi: Delhi High Court Tuesday closed proceedings in an appeal filed by former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar challenging his conviction in a murder case linked to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, following his death last week.Kumar, who was serving two life sentences in Tihar jail in connection with the riots, died on Aug 20.Taking note of the development, a bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan said, “In view thereof, the present appeal would abate.”The case related to the killing of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar on Nov 1, 1984, a day after anti-Sikh riots erupted in Delhi following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.Kumar was convicted on Feb 12, 2025, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Feb 25, 2025, in the case.While awarding the sentence, the trial court held that although the killing of “two innocent persons” was a grave crime, it did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty.Earlier, Delhi High Court had sentenced Kumar to life imprisonment in Dec 2018 in another 1984 anti-Sikh riots case involving the killing of five Sikhs and the burning of a gurdwara.
