The Supreme Court has recently directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to respond to a petition filed by former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, who is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Khokhar, who seeks the suspension of his life sentence, filed the petition after being convicted in connection with the riots.
A bench comprising Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Rajesh Bindal instructed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to obtain certificates from jail authorities regarding Khokhar’s conduct and behavior during his imprisonment.
Bhati informed the court that Khokhar’s previous bail requests had been rejected on three occasions.
Khokhar is one of the prominent individuals convicted in the case, alongside former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who is also serving a life sentence. Former MLA Mahender Yadav, who was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in the same case, died of COVID-19 while incarcerated at Mandoli Jail.
Both Kumar and Khokhar have been held at Tihar Jail since their conviction on December 17, 2018. The Delhi High Court upheld Khokhar’s sentence in 2018, while it overturned Kumar’s acquittal by a trial court in 2013.
The case concerns the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I, Palam Colony, in southwest Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and the destruction of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II. The violence erupted in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her Sikh bodyguards.
